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INFORMAL LEADERSHIP IN COMMUNITY-DRIVEN DEVELOPMENT: IMPLICATIONS FOR TRANSFORMATION
THESIS
SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULLFILMENT
OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE
MASTER OF ADULT EDUCATION
BY
MEGAN FOSTER
APPROVED BY
ADVISOR: Dr. Jane Dawson
COMMITTEE MEMBER: Dr. Leona English
EXTERNAL EXAMINER: Dr. Jennifer Sumner
INSTITUTION: Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto
SAINT FRANCIS XAVIER UNIVERSITY
ANTIGONISH, NOVA SCOTIA
2008
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1
ABSTRACT
As emergent approaches to community development shift the focus from
problems to capacities and from needs to assets, there is a need for outside agents such as
adult educators and development practitioners to re-evaluate how authentic community-
driven development takes place. This study explores the role of informal leaders in
community-level transformation. Through developing case studies of six informal leaders
in three rural communities of Mindanao, Philippines, this study identifies the supports
and challenges faced by informal leaders. The case studies are informed by the results of
semi-structured, appreciative interviews of six informal leaders and six other stakeholders
from the three communities which took place over the course of three weeks in February,
2006. Uncovering determinants of informal leader emergence in this context, this study
also explores the role informal community leaders play in the transformation of their
communities, the role of outside agents in supporting the emergence of such leaders, and
the various connections between the fields of transformative adult education and
community development as they relate to informal leadership.
This study concludes that informal leaders at the community level are in a unique
position to change people's perspectives of themselves and their capacities as individuals
and as communities to affect positive change. In this respect, informal community leaders
are transformative adult educators. The inherent level of trust between them and their
fellow community members enables them to lead, teach, and inspire others to transform.
Informal leaders are successful in this role because they are trusted, they are
communicators, they model positive behaviour, and they recognize the capacities of
themselves and others.
The findings of this study carry implications for outside agents hoping to inspire
some sort of transformation at the community level. Outside agents should seek out, work
with, empower, and learn from local people who are in a position to inspire others as
informal leaders. The perspective and role changes of these individuals seem to be
directly linked to the overall transformation and development of their communities. The
role of the outside agent in supporting transformation becomes one of empowering local
leaders to be agents of transformation themselves. Sustainable community development
comes from engaging the local community as learners and leaders.
3
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I gratefully acknowledge the guidance of my academic advisors Dr. Jane Dawson
and Dr. Thomas Mark Turay. I also acknowledge the support and mentorship of Dr.
Alison Mathie and Gord Cunningham.
I am thankful for the opportunity to have worked with esteemed colleagues at
Xavier University in Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines. I would like to particularly
acknowledge the collaborative efforts of Dr. Anselmo "Boy" Mercado, Rachel Polestico,
Vic Tagupa, Luther D. Labitad, Amy O. Patriarca, Carmen O. Oblimar, Marcelo R.
Sialongo, Christopher Patriarca, Pernalyn T. Beja, Ricarte G. Bacu, Lindy Lou V. Daclag,
Mericris T. Omahoy, Leileen Zari Abacahin, and Marvin Glenn Fernandez.
I am honoured and humbled by the willingness of study participants to openly
share their stories and experiences. They are an inspirational group of informal leaders
and community development workers who live their commitment to lifelong learning
everyday.
Finally, I extend immense thanks to my family and friends for their love, support,
and patience throughout this process.
4
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT 1
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 3
Chapter Page
1. INTRODUCTION 6 Background 6 The Focus of Inquiry 9 Purpose of the Study 10 Research Methodology 10 Limits of the Study 12 Assumptions 13 Definition of Terms 14 Plan of Presentation 17
2. REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE 18 Transformative Adult Education 19
Individual vs. Collective Transformation 22 The Role of the Educator: Issues of Power and Empowerment 24
Asset-Based and Community-Driven Development 26 Asset-Based Community Development 27 Community-Driven Development 28
Informal Leadership 30 Describing Leadership 30 Formal vs. Informal Leadership 31 Classifications of Informal Leadership 33
Authentic leaders 34 Servant leadership 34 Grassroots leadership 35
Characteristics of Informal Leaders 37 Informal leaders as critical thinkers and risk takers 38 Informal leaders as critical elements of social networks 39 Informal leaders as agents of transformation 40
Appreciative Inquiry and Research 42 Summary of the Literature 45 Theoretical Gaps in the Literature 49
3. DESCRIPTION OF THE STUDY 52 Research Methodology and Rationale 52 Research Design 55 Research Participants 58 Analysis 59 Findings 60
Case 1: Informal Leadership in Midkiwan 60
5
Chapter Page
Leader 1: Lily 62 Leader 2: Leeto 64
Case 2: Informal Leadership in San Roque 66 Leader 3: Luis 68 Leader 4: Luke 70
Case 3: Informal Leadership in Kitaotao 72 Leader 5: Leonard 74 Leader 6: Lia 75
Formal and Informal Leadership 77 Internal Determinants of Informal Leadership 80 External Determinants of Informal Leadership 81
Supports 81 Overcoming challenges 83
Summary 86
4. DISCUSSION OF THE OUTCOME: ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION 87 Informal Leaders and Their Role in Transformation 87
Internal Determinants 89 Individual and Societal Transformation 91 Critical Thinkers and Risk Takers 96 Beyond Perspective Transformation 98
Motivating 98 Teaching 99 Mobilizing 101 Linking 101
Power and Empowerment 103 Formal and Informal Leadership 103 Empowerment and the Outside Agent 106
Research Approach 109 Significance to the Field of Adult Education 114 Conclusions 119
REFERENCES 121
APPENDICES 127
6
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
This study explores the role of informal leaders in community-level
transformation, particularly in communities undertaking an asset-based and community-
driven approach to local development. Through developing case studies of informal
leaders in three rural communities of Mindanao, Philippines, this study identifies the
internal and external determinants of informal leadership in this context. For the
purposes of this research, I consider internal determinants to include the personal
characteristics and experiences of individuals who emerge as leaders. I consider external
determinants to include influences such as culture, political climate, economic conditions,
community cohesiveness and trust, and outside agency intervention. Highlighting these
supports and challenges faced by individuals who emerge as informal leaders, this study
also explores the differences between formal and informal leaders (including issues of
power and authority), the extent to which informal leaders can been seen to be agents of
transformation in their communities, the role of outside agents in supporting the
emergence of informal leaders, and the various connections between the fields of
transformative adult education and community development as they relate to informal
leadership.
Background
The Coady International Institute (Coady) has been involved in collaborative
action research partnerships on asset-based approaches to community-driven
development since 2001. The Xavier University College of Agriculture Complex
(XUCAC) in Cagayan de Oro, Mindanao, Philippines has been one such collaborative
research partner. In 2000-2001, and again from 2004-2006,1 was employed as a member
7
of the Coady staff in the asset-based community development (ABCD) program area. I
visited XUCAC in both 2001 and 2006 to develop and document their efforts in
employing an asset-based approach.
The XUCAC, a college within Xavier University, is involved in social and
economic development extension work in a number of rural farming communities in
Mindanao. Its main areas of work are in sustainable agriculture, appropriate technology,
and participatory development. The South East Asian Rural and Social Leadership
Institute (SEARSOLIN), a division of XUCAC, offers various training courses to
community development practitioners, primarily from South East Asia and the South
Pacific. Throughout its history, SEARSOLIN, and to a certain extent XUCAC as a whole,
has focused on approaches aimed at strengthening civil society and promoting local
participation in community development as a way to mitigate extreme poverty with local,
sustainable solutions. It saw the strengthening of local groups to advocate and act on their
own behalf to be of great importance within the Philippines' decentralized system of
government.
As an agricultural college, XUCAC also promotes sustainable farming techniques,
encouraging people to use local resources in their farming practice. However, the
XUCAC leadership, particularly Dr. Anselmo Mercado, Director of SEARSOLIN,
always felt a certain disconnect between promoting the capacity of local people to
organize and lead their own development using local resources within the predominant
problem-based or deficiency-based approach to development. Such approaches, he felt,
were aimed at highlighting the deficiencies or incapacities in the local situation and
presented an obstacle to developing strong and confident local leadership for
8
development. Mercado refers to the traditional approach as "Deficiency-of-Community-
Based-Approach" (DCBA), describing it as one in which "people and communities are
viewed as having problems, deficiencies, weaknesses and needs, thus projecting a
negative image of being problematic or sick" (2004, p. 1). It is in this context that
Mercado saw the promise of an asset-based approach to community-driven development.
Referring to his reading about asset-based community development for the first
time, Mercado (2004) says, "the concept and the approach struck me as something very
positive, motivating and exciting, and, in that sense uniquely different from the
"traditional" approaches in working with people and community development I have
known for decades" (p. 1). Recognizing that this approach built on the principles of
community organizing and active citizenship while helping communities to identify and
mobilize local assets and the capacities of individuals, he instigated an overall shift in
XUCAC's approach to extension work and the focus of its curriculum.
Introducing and integrating such an approach, as it is a distinct departure from the
established norms and practices in the field of development, was a lengthy and complex
process within the college. The shift began with the acknowledgement by Dr. Mercado in
2001 of the fit between this approach and XUCAC's work; however, with so many
departments, programs, and projects under its eaves, this shift took a number of years and
in some ways, is still an ongoing process as the college grapples with how best to orient
and deliver its programs. Yet, with time, patience, and the passionate belief of
organizational leaders, XUC AC seems to have integrated the core ideas of the asset-
based and community-driven approach to development throughout its work.
9
Throughout the process of integrating this new approach, XUCAC (and Coady, as
a collaborative partner in action research),oper ated on the assumption that informal
leaders play a role in successful community-driven development, and both identified the
need for further research into the common characteristics of such individuals and insights
on ways to support their emergence and leadership at the community level.
The Focus of Inquiry
As paradigms of development shift from needs-based approaches to capacity-
focused approaches, more and more researchers and practitioners, including XUCAC, are
exploring genuinely participative and community-driven models of development (see
Alexander, in press; Diacon & Guimaraes, 2003; Kretzmann & McKnight, 1993; Mathie
& Cunningham, 2003, 2005). Asset-based community development is one such approach
that is gaining interest and clout in the international development community. As the
research and documentation of asset-based approaches to community development grow,
certain issues seem to be of predominant importance. Identifying the communities'
physical, financial, natural, social, and human assets first; establishing and supporting
local associations to initiate and lead the development plan; and using existing internal
assets to leverage outside resources are some of the key areas of interest for researchers.
The role of informal leaders in community-driven development is another such area of
interest—and one that deserves further exploration.
In situations of successful community, organizational, or even global initiatives,
there are certain key people whose dynamism, skills, position, or ideas are critically
important. These people are sometimes in formal positions of power, for example,
government representatives and business leaders. However, in other cases, such people
10
emerge from the ranks of everyday citizens to become agents of transformation or
informal community leaders. Nevertheless, there is a gap in research surrounding how
informal leaders emerge in communities, the role that an informal leader plays in an
asset-based approach to community-driven development, and how an outside
organization or person can support the emergence of such leaders. There is also a gap in
research connecting transformative adult education practice with the roles of internal and
external players in community-driven development.
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this research is to identify internal and external determinants of
informal leadership at the community level, as well as to determine the implications of
these determinants for practitioners in the fields of adult education and community
development who wish to support the emergence of its informal leaders. Examining
specifically six informal leaders who have emerged in three rural communities in
Mindanao, Philippines and who are employing an asset-based approach to community-
driven development, this research also aims to illustrate the relationship between
community-driven development, informal leadership, and adult education.
Research Methodology
The field work for this study took place in February 2006 in three communities of
Mindanao, Philippines and was conducted concurrently with a broader research study of
the role of assets and agency in successful community-driven development lead by the
Coady International Institute and for which I was a co-researcher. A summary of the
broader research study, adapted from the proposal submitted to the St. Francis Xavier
University Research Ethics Board, is included as Appendix A.
11
I used a case study approach to deeply explore the experiences and contextual
backdrop of certain informal leaders in each of these three communities. According to
Bell (2000), a case study approach allows the researcher to identify situational factors and
rich detail that are often overlooked by a traditional research methodology. Data
collection techniques for this study ranged from oral accounts, gathered during interviews;
found documents, including existing project documentation; and written responses that
included my personal notes, reflections and musings. Throughout the field research, I
kept detailed field notes of personal observation about the subjects, communities, and
context. I also included a thorough review of project documentation on the process of
promoting an asset-based approach to development in these three communities.
The interviews were semi-structured, conversational, and took place in two parts.
In the first part, I interviewed six informal leaders—two from each of the three
communities. In the second part, I interviewed six other stakeholders from each
community, including formal leaders, development practitioners, and other community
members. Each of the other stakeholders was required to be able to describe the work,
influence, and/or impact of the informal leaders identified from their community. In
conducting all interviews, I used appreciative interviewing techniques that focused on
learning from past successes (see Cooperrider & Whitney 2005; Michael, 2005; Peterson,
2000). Participants were asked to share stories of past successes and their experiences of
development within their community. During the telling of their stories, participants were
given the opportunity and encouragement to analyze their own situation and their reasons
for success. This approach was intended to support the maintenance of ownership of the
information within the community through allowing an opportunity for reflective learning
12
by participants. All participants were asked questions about themselves, about their
communities, and about their perspectives on leadership and its role in their community.
Six of the 12 interviews were conducted through a translator. While every effort
was made to prepare the translator to translate questions and responses directly without
adding extraneous information, this did not always occur. There were times when a
concept or question proved complicated and the translator had to slightly rephrase it in
order for the participant to be able to respond.
Limits of the Study
This study does not include a comparison of the determinants of informal
leadership across cultures. It examines informal leadership in a relatively homogeneous
context—rural Mindanao, Philippines—and only within communities that have attempted
to undergo an asset-based approach to community-driven development through the
extension work of Xavier University College of Agriculture Complex.
There could have been other informal leaders who were not included in my
sample of participants because they were not recognized by XUCAC staff through their
interactions at the community level. Had I relied more heavily on community members or
local formal leaders to recommend participants, the pool of identified informal leaders
may have been different. Also, because I accompanied members of XUCAC staff in my
visits to these communities, people may have been more likely to highlight XUCAC
supports in their emergence as leaders due to their association of me with XUCAC.
The amount of time available to complete the field component of this research
project was a limitation. The field component of the research took place over 2 weeks in
three communities, concurrently with another research project. I spent approximately 2-3
13
days in each community, during which time all research participants had to be identified,
their acceptance of participation sought, and all interviews conducted. If an interview
question was not asked or if another potential participant was identified, there was little
time to respond. In addition, most participants could spend only a short period of time
being interviewed—usually between 45 and 120 minutes—as they were taking time from
their livelihood activities to participate. Given that I conducted the research on one trip to
the Philippines and because time and money constraints prevented me from returning for
any subsequent research phase, the study is limited to information that could be gathered
during that concentrated time. It is also limited by the fact that I, as a researcher, am not a
native to the culture in which the study took place. Despite this and previous experiences
living and working in the region, my lack of a long-term and established knowledge of
the culture and language is a limitation of the study and analysis presented.
Assumptions
I made several assumptions with regard to my methods and measurements for this
study. For instance, I assumed that three case studies, including interviews of six informal
leaders, would provide enough information to give a reasonable sample of informal
leadership in this context. In designing my research methodology and selecting an
approach, I also assumed that any research approach would have a certain degree of bias
or incompleteness based on the particularities of perspective of the researcher, the
participants, or both. However, I assumed that using a research approach that highlights
what is strong and vibrant about a community may be more likely to support the
community's growth in that direction. Further, I assumed that using an appreciative
approach to interviewing would yield usable results, while encouraging people to
14
appreciate their capacity through telling stories of past successes and maintain a sense of
ownership over the information being shared.
In carrying out the study, I made certain assumptions about the capacities of other
people and institutions to support the project. For example, I assumed that XUCAC could
identify credible informal leaders in the communities in which it worked. I assumed that
leadership was a concept that was understood across cultures and that people would
recognize a certain inherent difference between informal and formal leadership in order
to comment on it. And, at a basic level, I assumed that the questions and answers that
were conveyed through translation were accurately communicated.
I also made certain overall assumptions about the general concepts of leadership,
community development, and transformation. Essentially, the assumption contained
throughout my study is that each of these makes a positive contribution to communities
and, therefore, should be sought out by communities and individuals. By-and-large, each
of these assumptions was confirmed through the consistency in the findings of my
research and will be further discussed in chapter 4.
Definition of Terms
The following definitions are for a range of frequently-used terms contained in
this thesis and are adapted from a variety of sources. Some are explanations of Philippine
words while others are definitions of concepts from the literature discussed in chapter 2.
Certain terms, such as internal determinants of informal leadership and external
determinants of informal leadership, are not found in the literature and so I developed
definitions for them based on the context in which they are used in this study.
15
Agent of transformation. An individual who, through his or her participation in
community life, inspires a desire for change and mobilizes local resources to achieve the
change.
Appreciative inquiry. A formal or informal research approach that promotes
positive change by focusing its inquiry and analysis on the peak experiences of the past.
Through story-telling, visioning, and planning, appreciative inquiry helps participants to
identify the best of "what is" as well as to generate and pursue their own dreams of "what
could be."
Appreciative interviewing. A research technique used in gathering stories and
insights about the positive experiences of the past.
Asset-based community development. An approach to local development which
helps communities assess their unique asset base—including financial, physical, natural,
social, and human assets. Communities are encouraged to use local capacities and
resources as the starting place for planning their development efforts. (See Kretzmann &
McKnight, 1993).
Barangay. The Philippine term for municipality.
Bayanihan. A traditional custom of cooperative work—typically agricultural
labour—within a rural Philippine community.
Community-driven development. The process by which the members of a
community organize themselves and mobilize their resources for appropriate and
sustainable development as determined by them.
Datu. The formal leader of a group of indigenous people in the Philippines. Also
known as a tribal leader.
16
External determinants of leadership. Those environmental factors such as culture,
political climate, economic conditions, community cohesiveness, and outside agency
intervention that contribute to an individual's ability to emerge as a leader.
Formal leader. A person who has influence over others by nature of a formally
recognized position of power, for example, a political leader or an employer.
Informal leader. A person who influences the behaviour of others, even though he
or she does not have a formal position of authority. He or she is generally recognized by
peers to possess some leadership capacity. Informal leaders are sometimes referred to as
"authentic leaders," "servant leaders," "grassroots leaders," "emergent leaders,"
"volunteer leaders," or "community leaders."
Internal determinants of leadership. Those personal characteristics, experiences,
and skills that contribute to an individual's ability to emerge as a leader.
Pur ok. The Philippine term for a village. Several puroks comprise a barangay.
Transformative adult education. The process of supporting an individual or
community in critically analyzing the current situation and the possible future.
Transformative adult education inspires a belief that positive change, based on internally
determined values and goals, is valuable and possible.
XUCAC. The Xavier University College of Agriculture Complex, a department of
Xavier University. XUCAC has various divisions, including the South East Asian Rural
and Social Leadership Institute (SEARSOLIN), the Xavier Science Foundation (XSF),
and the Sustainable Agriculture Center (SAC). Each division does separate outreach in
surrounding communities such as Midkiwan (SEARSOLIN), Tongantongan (SAC), and
Kitaotao (XSF). For the purposes of this study, individual divisions are not distinguished.
17
Plan of Presentation
In the following chapter, I situate key lessons from various bodies of literature
within the context of transformative adult education theory and as they relate to informal
leadership in community-driven development. I also review literature supporting
appreciative approaches to research and data gathering. In chapter 3,1 describe the
methodology employed in my research study and then present the findings. The findings
are organized into three case studies, each describing the context of the community and
highlighting the story of two informal leaders that have emerged through the
communities' development initiatives. In the final chapter, I present the key findings and
lessons learned from this research study, including an analysis of the role of informal
leaders as agents of transformation and implications for adult educators and outside
agents to support transformation and community-driven development. I conclude with a
reflection on the significance of this study to the overall field of adult education.
18
CHAPTER 2: REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
In this chapter, I situate key lessons from various bodies of literature within the
context of transformative adult education theory and as they relate to informal leadership
in community-driven development. I begin with a review of foundational and emergent
literature on transformative adult education theory and practice, with a particular focus on
the role of leaders in promoting and enabling transformation from within. In the second
section, I highlight research on community-driven development and concentrate on
literature pertaining to strength-based or asset-based approaches. In the third section, I
explore leadership theory and particularly focus on differentiating between formal and
informal leadership. Though relevant organizational development literature is included, I
sought out sources that referred to leadership at the community level as much as possible.
In the fourth section, I focus on appreciative approaches to qualitative data gathering,
highlighting appreciative inquiry literature. The main body of the review is followed with
a summary of the literature and an outline of significant areas of overlap and mutual
relevance of content between sections. I conclude with a discussion of theoretical gaps in
the literature.
In each section of the review, I highlight significant concepts found in the
literature and relate them to transformative adult education theory. In my review, I draw
links between community-driven development, informal leadership, and transformative
adult education—particularly the role of informal leaders as adult educators and agents of
transformation at the community level—as well as illustrate the need for further research
into the significant relationship between these fields of theory.
19
Transformative Adult Education
The pre-eminent thinker and founding North American theorist of the field of
transformative adult education is Mezirow (1978, 1991, 1995, 1997, 2002). Mezirow's
work builds largely from the work of prominent Brazilian popular education theorist,
Freire. Freire (1970) first introduces the concept of "conscientization" (p. 19), or the
capacity of education to promote critical reflection that shapes the transformation of an
individual or society, which is a theme of key influence to Mezirow. Mezirow's work
builds on Freire's in terms of its focus on capacity for adult educators to provide a space
for meaningful critical reflection, discussion, and transformation. However, a notable
divergence, discussed in detail later in this chapter, is Freire's focus on societal and
political change as the ultimate aim of transformative adult education and Mezirow's
more individualistic perspective.
In Mezirow's (1997) view, the goal of transformative adult education is "to help
the individual become a more autonomous thinker by learning to negotiate his or her own
values, meanings, and purpose rather than uncritically acting on those of others" (p. 11).
According to Taylor (1998), "transformative learning attempts to explain how our
expectations, framed within cultural assumptions and presuppositions, directly influence
the meaning we derive from our experiences" (p. 13). The personal understanding of
one's experiences can be called meaning perspectives.
Mezirow (1991) defines meaning perspectives as interpretations of experience
that help us make decisions. He states, they "provide us with criteria forjudging or
evaluating right and wrong, bad and good, beautiful and ugly, true and false, appropriate
and inappropriate" (p. 44). In order for individual or societal transformation to take place,
20
people's meaning perspectives—whether individually held or generally held by a group,
community, or society—must be critically evaluated and changed. The changing of one's
meaning perspectives is known as perspective transformation (Mezirow, 1978).
Perspective transformation is a change in the way we see our reality that comes about
during periods of role-change and continues as we mature. According to Mezirow (1991):
Perspective transformation is the process of becoming critically aware of how and why our assumptions have come to constrain the way we perceive, understand, and feel about our world; changing these structures of habitual expectation to make possible a more inclusive, discriminating, and integrating perspective; and...making choices or otherwise acting upon these new understandings, (p. 167)
Taylor (1998) adds "it is the revision of meaning structures from experiences that is
addressed by the theory of perspective transformation" (p. 13). The three main stages of
perspective transformation are (a) alienation, from old role; (b) reframing, taking a step
back to look; and (c) establishing a new meaning, which often includes a behaviour
change (Mezirow, 1978). These three stages can unfold quickly or over a longer period of
time. Mezirow (2002) states that "transformations in habit of mind can be epochal, a
sudden, dramatic, reorienting of insight, or incremental, involving a progressive series of
transformations in related points of view that culminate in a transformation in habit of
mind" (p. 21). The pace of transformation may depend on the characteristics of the
person or group that is transforming or the situation in the surrounding environment.
There are three common themes in Mezirow's (1995) theory of transformative
learning: centrality of the experience, critical reflection, and rational discourse. First,
centrality of experience refers to the importance of acknowledging the learner's own
experiences in informing his or her perspectives. Acknowledging the learners'
experiences as the foundation for their world views is the starting point for
21
transformation. There is a synergy between this view and that of the prevailing
philosophy of community-driven development in that both recognize and draw upon local
capacity and knowledge as the foundation for transformation (Koch, 2005; Kretzmann &
McKnight, 1993; Mathie & Cunningham, 2003, 2005).
Second, critical reflection is the process by which a learner questions "the
integrity of assumptions and beliefs based on prior experience" (Taylor, 1998, p. 16).
Mezirow (1995) adds that "reflection is the.. .process by which we change our minds,
literally and figuratively. It is the process of turning our attention to the justification for
what we know, feel, believe and act upon" (p. 46). Brookfield (1987) clarifies that
thinking critically does not necessarily mean thinking negatively, despite the common
connotation. People are inspired to change their behaviours or beliefs based on significant
experiences, whether positive or negative. Demonstrating particular overlap with
Mezirow's stages of perspective transformation, Brookfield describes the phases of
critical thinking as: trigger event, appraisal, exploration, developing alternative
perspectives, and integration. Brookfield proposes that evidence of critical thinking in
adults is a direct indicator of a healthy democracy and a means by which people can feel
more engaged in the world around them. Such engagement incites feelings of desire and
capacity to change, which may spur individual or collective action.
Third, rational discourse provides an active opportunity for learners to critically
reflect on their experiences and challenge, or in fact transform, their perspectives (Taylor,
1998). As such, rational discourse can be seen as "the essential medium through which
transformation is promoted and developed" (Taylor, 1998, p. 17). In writings on
transformation, Freire refers to this stage as praxis or an ongoing process of moving
22
between action, critical reflection, and dialogue so as to dismantle "oppressive structures
and mechanisms prevalent both in education and society" (Freire & Macedo, 1995, p.
383). Despite the inherent value of rational discourse as a means for learners to sort
through and make decisions about their values and beliefs, Mezirow (1991) warns about
an ironic potential among those seeking to be collectively critically reflective, saying,
"Rational discourse in groups also can be impeded when group members' enthusiasm
causes their perspectives to become impermeable to alternative points of view" (p. 191).
The dynamics of a group and its leadership are thus critical in creating an environment
conducive to a rational ongoing discourse.
Individual vs. Collective Transformation
The degree to which an individual's transformation is linked to community or
societal transformation is debated in the literature. (See Cranton (1994) and Taylor (1998)
for a full discussion of this issue). According to Taylor (1998), "the most controversial
issue concerning transformative learning theory has been its relationship to social action
and power" (p. 28). A major critique is that this emphasis is largely placed on individual
transformation at the expense of examining the context and potential for broader social
transformation (Collard & Law, 1989; Newman, 1993). According to Newman (1993),
"perspective transformation appears to focus on the individual examining his or her own
personal experience... [and accepting] a reintegration into a society where the dominant
ideology may go unquestioned" (p. 229). According to Cranton (1994), transformative
adult learning is not an isolated process—it necessarily exists within a social context and
that specific context must be examined in order to understand how transformation takes
place. Boyd and Myers (1988) agree that the two are integrally linked, saying that the
23
purpose of transformative adult education is to acknowledge "that abiding within [each
learner] is a truth, a knowledge, which is not separate from socio-economic, political and
other cultural influences, but transcends them" (p. 282).
Some insist that individual transformation and the building of agency are
prerequisite to collective transformation. Agency is given various definitions (see
Alexander, in press; Krishna, 2002; Reicher, Haslam & Hopkins, 2005; Stein, 1984),
though essentially it is the demonstration of active participation in group or community
life. According to Brookfield (1987), one must exercise critical thinking to be a
"developed person living in a democratic society" (p. 14). Taylor (1998) goes on to say
that "it is through personal agency that [learners] develop the understanding of how to
change individually and collectively" (p. 50). According to Mezirow (1991), "we must
begin with individual perspective transformation before social transformations can
succeed" (p. 363). Although Cranton agrees that individual transformation is typically a
necessary precursor to social transformation, she acknowledges that the impetus for
transformation can take place in both directions.
While Mezirow adamantly points out that individual perspective transformation
does not necessarily lead to collective action and/or social transformation, this opinion is
in contrast to the radical reformist views of Freire (1970). Freire's perspective on adult
education and transformative learning links individual transformative with social action
and revolution. For Freire, the purpose of adult education is to help oppressed people
realize the reality of their situation so that they can overthrow the oppression through
collective action. Individual critical reflection and individual perspective
24
transformation—what Freire terms conscientization—are only important in their capacity
to change oppressive social, economic, and political conditions.
In their radical theories of societal transformation, both Freire and Gramsci
identify the potential of education for affecting political change (Ledwith, 2001).
Gramsci, an Italian political theorist in the Marxist tradition, is most noted for his theory
of cultural hegemony by which a ruling class maintains dominance through controlling
the ideas of the people (through education, media, etc.) His work informed Freire's
contention that authentic transformation will only take place when the people come
together to overthrow the dominant ideology. In comparing and critically analyzing their
work, Ledwith highlights the common idea that transformation must be driven at the
community level for dominant ideologies to be challenged; communities are central to the
creation of common meaning and thus, are the places from which all collective growth
and transformation must be launched. The writing of Finger (1989) supports this
contention: "adult transformation is...local and communitarian, based on concern,
commitment and experience, rooted in and contributing to the development of local
culture" (p. 18). The role of the community in supporting or enabling transformation has
relevance to the interplay between the fields of transformative adult education and
community development.
The Role of the Educator: Issues of Power and Empowerment
Cranton (1994) describes the role of a transformative educator as increasing
learner empowerment, stimulating critical questioning, and supporting learners. From the
reformist perspective, the adult educator "plays the role of provocateur, one who
challenges, stimulates, and provokes critical thinking" (p. 128). Mezirow (1991) adds that
25
"the central responsibility of the adult educator who wishes to encourage transformative
learning is to foster learners' reflection upon their own beliefs.. .through a critical
examination of the history, context and consequences of their assumptions..." (p. 225).
Brookfield (1987) refers to the adult educator as a helper, whose role is to listen
empathetically, make connections through guided reflection, encourage the identification
of assumptions, encourage scepticism, help people realize that context can be altered, and
provide opportunity for reflection. Brookfield goes on to argue that "community workers,
social activists, union organizers, and political leaders can be positive change agents
triggering critical thinking in people. They can do this by transmitting the sheer
inspirational force of their vision of what might be" (p. 33). The caution is for an adult
educator to inspire a group or individual towards transformation without controlling the
process and diminishing the power of the learner.
Educators are themselves transformative learners who regularly analyze and
revise their perspectives, theories, and practices. According to Mezirow (2002), "the
generally accepted model of adult education involves a transfer of authority from the
educator to the learners; the successful educator works herself [sic] out of her job as
educator and becomes a collaborative learner" (pp. 14-15). This echoes Freire's (1970)
idea of an educator being an equal player in the learning process, and insists that a
dialogue be fostered between educator and learner that is built on "love, humility, and
faith... of which mutual trust between dialoguers is the logical consequence" (pp. 79-80).
This shift in roles requires the educator and learner to adjust prevailing power dynamics.
According to Cranton (1994), a person must be empowered to engage in authentic critical
reflection, thereby becoming ready for transformation.
26
Cranton (1994) also believes that learner empowerment depends on the educator
giving up position power but retaining personal power. It is challenging for educators
and/or outsiders who try to facilitate learning without taking ownership from the learners
and/or community. In view of this, Mezirow (1978) holds that the role of the adult
educator could be to encourage learners to reflect on their reality and create a safe and
conducive learning environment for transformation. As adult educators, development
agents need to be conscious of the inherent power of their position as they attempt to
stimulate individual and social transformation (Koch, 2005). If the goal is community-
driven development in which the community's agenda is the focus, the outsider must
tread carefully and acknowledge the potential power dynamics at play in his or her
interactions in the community.
Asset-Based and Community-Driven Development
There is a shift of focus in emerging community development literature from
needs-based or problem-solving approaches to those that recognize the assets and
capacities that exist within communities and support community-driven leadership of
local development (Diacon & Guimaraes, 2003; Kretzmann & McKnight, 1993; Mathie
& Cunningham, 2003, 2005). According to Kretzmann and McKnight (1993), "the key to
[community] regeneration... is to locate all of the available local assets, to begin
connecting them with one another in ways that multiply their power and effectiveness" (p.
5). Diacon and Guimaraes (2003) add that "a capacity-focused approach is more likely
[than a needs-based approach] to empower the community and mobilise citizens to create
positive and meaningful change from within" (p. 4).
Engaging in asset-based and community-driven development is a transformative
process. According to Ledwith (2001), the community is the "essence of people's lives"
(p. 171) and this is the most appropriate place for transformative learning to take place.
Koch (2005) adds, "transformative learning [is a] foundational goal [of asset-based
community development], in which the development of independent thinking and
subsequent action is fundamental to the democratic development of the society" (p. 104).
Furthermore, Koch notes, "transformative learning opportunities emerge as a critical
element within an ABCD [sic] process, providing individuals and groups with the
opportunity to engage, reflect, and grow toward self-actualization and educational
capacity building" (p. 169). Communities engaging in an asset-based approach to
development must critically reflect on the dominant, needs-based ideology in order for
authentic transformation to take place.
Asset-Based Community Development
As seminal authors on asset-based community development, Kretzmann and
McKnight (1993) advocate for a shift in the general approach to community development
from needs-based and problem-focused to asset-based and capacity-focused. The authors
stress that this approach does not ignore problems, but rather merely highlights that
communities are more likely to be successful if they first focus on their assets and
capacities instead of looking at what they are missing and attempting to have it filled
from outside. Analyzing numerous examples of successful community development from
an asset-based lens, Kretzmann and McKnight demonstrate the power of this approach
both in uncovering local assets that can be used to build communities and in mobilizing
citizens (often organized into community associations) to participate in the development
process. According to the authors, "every single person has capacities, abilities and gifts.
Living a good life depends on whether those capacities can be used, abilities expressed
and gifts given" (p. 13). Mathie and Cunningham (2005) support this view, adding that
"asset-based community development takes as its starting point the existing assets and
strengths of community, particularly the strengths inherent in community-based
associations and other social networks" (p. 177).
Asset-based community development (ABCD) is an overall approach to
development and to seeing the innate capacities of communities. It is not a blueprint for
development with predetermined steps or tools. As Mathie (2006) explains, "while there
are tools and methods for identifying assets and opportunities,.. .ABCD is neither a
prescribed set of practices nor a new way of community organizing" (p. 1). Mathie and
Cunningham (2003) support this statement, noting that "The ABCD approach has at its
core the notion that communities (in particular local associations within those
communities) must drive the development process. The role of outside
agencies... becomes one of group capacity building" (p. 13). Because every community's
assets, residents, and contextual situation are unique, the approach taken to integrate an
asset-based approach to development will necessarily vary between communities and
must be driven by those internal factors—by the community itself.
Community-Driven Development
Community-driven development may be defined as the mobilization of local
resources by local people. As Harris (2002) points out, much successful leadership for
community development and social transformation comes from the community level;
when decisions happen in far-removed arenas, the solutions are like "flying saucers" (p.
29
49), with little relevance to the local reality. Kretzmann and McKnight (1993) agree,
stating that there is "overwhelming evidence.. .that if outside plans and resources
dominate and overwhelm local initiatives and associations, massive social and economic
disasters occur" (p. 374). These comments support the importance of an approach that
focuses on internal capacities and enables local actors to drive the development process.
A criticism of community-driven development is that it may be too inward
looking, requiring the local community to function separately from the state and the
market, while letting service providers dodge their responsibility to provide services
entitled to citizens (McGrath, Moffatt, George, & Lee, 1999). Although, as an
organization, it has a varied reputation for supporting sustainable development, the World
Bank (2004) has written fairly extensively on community-driven development and has
underlined the obligation of local, regional, and national governments to provide an
enabling environment to promote local development. Acquiring (or demanding) the rights,
services, and entitlements of citizenship is not seen to detract from the community-driven
element of participatory and decentralized approaches. Rather, it is seen to enhance the
capacity of local people to drive their own development.
The idea that the capacity of local people to drive their own development depends
on the level of internal capacity or "agency" that is supported in the literature (see
Cunningham, 2005; Krishna, 2002; Mathie & Cunningham, 2003, 2005; Rogers, 2004;
World Bank, 2004). Cunningham (2005) found that strong community-driven
development is characterized by "a high degree of internal agency... [or] the ability of the
community to determine and maintain control over the development agenda. This
requires local leadership that is able to generate a strong motivation to act among
30
community members" (p. 30). The role of such local leadership in shaping authentic
development at the community level forms the basis for this study and is explored in
detail through the analysis in chapter 4.
Informal Leadership
As a community takes ownership of its development process, leaders—often
members of local associations—emerge to help identify, link, and mobilize the
community's assets for development (Diacon & Guimaraes, 2003; Mathie &
Cunningham 2003, 2005). These people can be seen as catalysts for the development
process. Such leaders can "stimulate a sense of pride and possibility. They recognize the
potential within the community... [and] they recognize opportunities available through
making connections and linkages with agencies interested in 'investing' in communities
that can demonstrate that potential" (Mathie & Cunningham, 2005, p. 176). This active
participation in community life and decision-making is described by Merrifield (2002) as
"active citizenship" or "taking part in decisions that affect people's lives" (p. 3).
Describing Leadership
Leadership is a broad term, with many definitions. As such, scholars have
categorized leadership theory in various ways. There are different styles of leadership,
such as autocratic, democratic or participative (De Cremer, 2006; Steers, Porter, & Bigley,
1996), or task-oriented and relations-oriented (Bass, 1990; Kellett, Humphrey, & Sleeth,
2006). Also, there are different characteristics, criteria, and roles that can determine
effective leadership (i.e., transformational leadership) (Avolio & Bass, 1988; Burns, 1978;
Cranton, 1994). As well, there are different types of leaders, such as formal and informal
(Heifetz, 1994; Pescosolido, 2001, 2002; Pielstick, 2000). And finally, within the
31
literature on informal leadership, there are different classifications, such as authentic
leaders (Pielstick, 2003, 2006), grassroots leaders (Harris, 2002; McNeely, Aiyetoro, &
Bowsher, 1999; W K Kellogg Foundation, 1999), emergent leaders (Tapia, Underwood,
& Jabre, 2003), and servant leaders (Greenleaf, 2002; Pielstick, 2006). I focused my
analysis of this body of literature on that which addressed a differentiation between
formal and informal leadership and on sources that referred to leadership at the
community level (though some relevant organizational development literature was
included); a full analysis of the many facets of leadership literature was beyond the scope
of this work.
Reicher et al. (2005) propose that leadership is in a person's actions as opposed to
something innate in his or her character. Heifetz (1994) describes leadership as an
adaptive process for mobilizing or engaging people to solve their problems. It is seen to
be an educative process in which leaders guide followers with questions, reflections, and
perspectives—often without having the answers themselves. According to Heifetz,
"leadership.. .means engaging people to make progress on the adaptive problems they
face. Because making progress on adaptive problems requires learning, the task of
leadership consists of choreographing and directing learning processes in an organization
or community" (p. 187). Certainly this adaptive and responsive process relates to the role
of a transformative adult educator as defined by Freire (1970) and Mezirow (1991).
Formal vs. Informal Leadership
There is some discussion and general consensus in the literature as to the
existence of a dichotomy of leadership positions, namely formal and informal leadership.
Both serve important purposes in the effective functioning of groups, work teams,
32
communities, and societies (Heifetz, 1994; Pescosolido, 2002; Pielstick, 2000, 2003,
2006; Pitcoff, 2004). Although interchanging the terms leadership and authority, Heifetz
discusses formal and informal leadership and defines authority as "conferred power to
perform a service" (1994, p. 57). Specifically,
with formal authority comes the various powers of the office, and with informal authority comes the power to influence attitude and behavior beyond compliance. Formal authority is granted because the officeholder promises to meet a set of explicit expectations..., whereas informal authority comes from promising to meet expectations that are often left implicit. (Heifetz, 1994, p. 101)
Though usually without the inherent advantages of a formal, high-ranking
position (e.g., money, conferred mandate, prestige), individuals with informal authority
have a certain freedom to be creative in leading and can focus or broaden their efforts in
ways unavailable to those working within formal structures (Heifetz, 1994). Pielstick
(2006) supports this theory, noting that "Formal leaders have access to legitimate
authority, coercive power, and extrinsic rewards that informal leaders generally do not.
However, great leaders prefer to use the power and influence of the informal leader:
intrinsic rewards, expertise, and referent power" (p. 1).
An informal leader's ability to influence the emotions of followers is noted in the
literature (Balkundi & Kilduff, 2005; De Cremer, 2006; George, 2000; Pescosolido,
2002). According to Pescosolido (2002), informal leaders find success in their ability to
influence group processes, beliefs, and norms, in contrast to formal leaders, who lead
with official power and authority. De Cremer (2006) agrees that a leader is most
influential when effectively appealing to group members' emotions and explains how
"members' emotions and motivation appear to have important implications for groups
and organizations" (p. 79). Kellett et al. (2006) add that:
33
although people who want to be leaders may try to create [a bond with members], it is not always easy to act in an emotionally intelligent way, and individuals obviously differ in their ability to communicate their feelings, make others feel understood and demonstrate the empathy and concern for others, (p. 149)
Kellett et al. conclude with the recommendation that "leaders must hone their ability to
identify and display emotions (particularly empathy)" (p. 157). Not only does appealing
to an individual or group's emotions engender positive functioning for the task at hand, it
also lays the groundwork for transformation. According to Mezirow (2002),
transformation occurs when people are able to and encouraged to participate in discourse;
furthermore, "effective participation in discourse and transformation requires emotional
maturity—awareness, empathy and control" (p. 11).
In relation to leaders' abilities to inspire positive results from groups, in one study,
Pielstick (2000) found informal leaders to be more likely than their formal counterparts to
be collaborative learners with followers, and to motivate others through their actions by
modeling ideal behaviour. As cited in Popular Education News (2005), Freire's work on
libertarian education, or what he terms "problem-posing education" fl| 1), supports this
democratic relationship between teacher and student. Freire proposes a democratization
of learning or a partnership in which both teacher and student—or leader and follower—
are simultaneously teaching and learning. This shift requires creativity and critical
thinking.
Classifications of Informal Leadership
Pielstick (2000) describes the leadership used by informal leaders as authentic
leadership. In a novel model for authentic leadership, Pielstick contends that a group's
shared vision of the future is supported by the four domains of leading: (a)
communicating regularly with followers, (b) building a web of relationships with and
34
among followers, (c) creating a sense of community based on shared values and beliefs,
and (d) guiding achievement of the vision through empowerment and other actions. An
authentic leader works within these domains as a motivating force that does not impose
but may initiate the vision of a group. According to Pielstick, a collective vision is
developed through a reflection and agreement on shared meaning towards a sense of
wholeness. This pursuit of shared meaning relates to Mezirow's (1991) theory of
meaning perspectives or the way one perceives reality based on prior learning. Meaning
perspectives, according to Mezirow, are interpretations of experience; they help us judge
situations for decision making, and they are subject to change. This change or
development of meaning perspectives is critical to adult learning. People must confront
and often negate their assumptions of "truth" for transformative learning to take place.
The authentic leader may play a role in encouraging critical reflection towards the
development of new meaning perspectives for individuals and groups.
Authentic leaders. People may be considered to be authentic leaders when they
consistently model appropriate behaviour for followers, regardless of whether they are
verbally explicit in their instruction. Kouzes and Posner (1988) describe authentic leaders
as those who "consistently demonstrate by their own behavior what they expect of
others" (p. 530). Pescosolido (2001) adds that people can be motivated to act "through
the modeling of successful performance by someone who is similar to the individual" (p.
76) such as an informal or authentic leader.
Servant leadership. Pielstick (2000) explores the concept of "servant leadership"
as it relates to informal leaders, proposing that informal leaders tend to "emphasize
35
service above self (p. 12). Greenleaf (2002), who coined the phrase, describes servant
leadership:
The servant-leader is servant first.... It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. He or she is sharply different from the person who is leader first... The difference manifests itself in the care taken by the servant to make sure that other people's highest priority needs are being served, (p. 27)
Self-sacrifice, or a person's willingness to act as servant or suffer loss, has been
explored in transformational leadership theory (De Cremer, 2006). In a study involving
university students, De Cremer found correlation between appealing to the emotions of
group members through self-sacrifice and inspiring motivation for group tasks.
Grassroots leadership. According to the W. K. Kellogg Foundation's (1999)
report on "grassroots leadership" and sustainable communities, grassroots leaders are
motivated by a desire to serve others, a commitment to social justice, and a strong faith or
religious conviction. The W. K. Kellogg Foundation states that this differs from the more
traditional view of self-interest being the prime motivation to leadership, especially for
formal leaders. McNeely et al. (1999) add to this definition, stating that grassroots leaders
"are respected and emulated not only for their technical skills, but also because they can
articulate a clear vision and reflect a set of core values through their actions" (p. 25).
Tying in the idea that recognizing and mobilizing assets is an important element of
successful leadership in community-driven development, grassroots leaders themselves
identify the "importance of projecting to the community a sense of self-reliance and
resilient problem solving that draws on the community's inherent assets" (McNeely et al.,
p. 25).
36
Grassroots community leaders are sometimes referred to as "emergent leaders," or
those who emerge when formal leadership is absent during a time when leadership is
necessary to meet a goal (Lawler, 1988). Emergent leadership has also been defined as a
dynamic social process during which an individual adopts the role of leader (Moss &
Kent, 1996). As well, emergent leaders have been defined as those members of a group
who exert influence over others, despite the fact that they may not have been granted
formal authority (Schneider & Goktepe, 1983). According to Mahar and Mahar (2006),
grassroots leadership emergence "sometimes occurs formally, whereby an individual is
designated officially by group members, senior leaders, or the system, to be the leader; or
informally, whereby an individual evolves as group leader without being designated
officially" (p. 6). The theory of grassroots leadership reflects the idea that communities
have capable local agents that can emerge to drive the local agenda.
Through their compiled examples from select Middle Eastern countries, Tapia,
Underwood and Jabre (2003) identify both the personal attributes of emerging leaders,
such as trustworthiness (sincerity and authenticity), pro-activeness, intelligence, and the
ability to think critically; and the social factors within their communities that impact their
emergence in leadership roles, such as having leader role models, having strong social
support networks within the community, and having access to education. Tapia et al.
challenge the widely-held definition of leadership as "authority" or "power-over." Instead,
they propose that effective grassroots leadership is "action," used differently depending
on the context of a given situation. According to the authors, leadership is relational;
effective leaders need broad social connections to mobilize for collective action.
37
While most grassroots leaders emerge over time, a significant experience can
hasten or solidify the emergence of an individual to a leadership role. According to
McNeely et al. (1999), "many leaders report a specific, profound moment or event in
their leadership career that caused them to take stock of their leadership work, recommit
themselves more deeply, and move to higher levels of leadership" (p. 10). The idea that a
specific moment or experience—a trigger event—can have a profound change on one's
character or commitment is echoed in the transformative adult education literature
(Brookfield, 1987; Mezirow, 1978, 1991).
Characteristics of Informal Leaders
Many scholars agree that leadership emergence depends on certain traits as well
as the recognition of these traits by followers (De Cremer, 2006; Smith & Foti, 1998;
Taggar, Hackett, & Saha, 1999; Taormina & Selvarajah, 2005; Tapia et al., 2003). Such
traits include cognitive intelligence (Smith & Foti), emotional intelligence and empathy
(Balkundi & Kilduff, 2005; De Cremer; George, 2000; Kellett et al., 2006; Pescosolido,
2002), self-efficacy or the perception that one is capable of performing a task (Smith &
Foti, 1998), extraversion (Taggar et al.), charisma (Pescosolido, 2001), and being
supportive of the leadership emergence of other group members (Reicher et al., 2005;
Taggar etal., 1999).
Differences in culture impact the characteristics valued in informal leaders—or
whether informal leadership is, in fact, valued at all. There is relatively little literature on
the characteristics and role of informal leadership in Southeast Asia, at least the English
sources searched (see section on theoretical gaps in the literature). However, one study,
which focused on leaders in organizational management in Southeast Asia, supports the
38
hypothesis of continued Confucian influence on perceptions of leadership (Taormina &
Selvarajah, 2005). In contradiction to Taggar et al.'s (1999) finding that a person's
conscientiousness did not have a determining relationship in respect to his or her
leadership emergence, Taormina and Selvarajah found being considerate of others and
trusting in others were both identified as critical characteristics of great leaders,
characteristics related to the Confucian value of human-oriented, rather than production-
oriented, approach to leadership. As with much of the literature on leadership, however,
this study was conducted in the formal, organizational field of management and so
application of the findings to community situations and informal leaders must be
cautiously carried out.
There is some resistance to the idea that leadership is wholly determined by a set
of personal characteristics. According to Reicher et al. (2005), there is no reliable
evidence of key traits or characteristics that distinguish leaders from non-leaders. They
propose that one can distinguish actions such as consideration for others and the ability to
organize people to meet common goals; however, the "Great Man [sic]" theory of
leadership—the classification of the social and intellectual characteristics that set leaders
apart from followers—is often disputed (see Mann, 1959; Nadler & Tushman, 1990).
Informal leaders as critical thinkers and risk takers. Critical thinking is an
integral element of adults' formal and informal learning (Brookfield, 1987; Cranton,
1994; Freire, 1970; Ledwith, 2001; Mezirow, 1978, 1991, 2002). Critical thinking is
defined as that which calls "into question the assumptions underlying our customary,
habitual ways of thinking and acting and then being ready to think and act differently on
the basis of this critical questioning" (Brookfield, 1987, p. 1). Critical thinkers, according
39
to Brookfield, are able to challenge steadfast ways, challenge the role they play in a
system, and challenge other people to become actively engaged in critical thinking and
transformative behaviour. Furthermore, Brookfield identifies several key skills necessary
to encourage critical thinking in groups and individuals including flexibility, patience,
confidence, and clear communication.
There is an inherent risk, however, associated with challenging long-held beliefs
and/or the status quo. The W. K. Kellogg Foundation's (1999) report on investment in
grassroots leaders as a strategy for social change and community building noted that
grassroots leaders do not necessarily fit into mainstream definitions of "community
leader"—they may consider themselves to be outsiders in the community. From this
perspective, the leader may have a unique perspective so as to be able to think critically
about issues within the community, and they may use unconventional strategies to
motivate fellow citizens. However, informal or grassroots leaders, as critical thinkers and
mobilizers of people and community action, may also face ridicule or attack—a condition
likely exacerbated if the person is generally seen as an outsider in the community. As
Heifetz (1994) points out, "without authority, a leader stands relatively naked before the
people, often appearing to be not only the identifier of a distressing problem but also the
source of the distress itself (p. 225). Heifetz continues, noting that assuming a leadership
role can be personally risky in that people who put themselves at the centre of problems
or issues in communities "frequently bear scars from their efforts to bring about adaptive
change" (p. 235).
Informal leaders as critical elements of social networks. Leaders, both formal
and informal, must understand the social realities of the people they are leading. In order
40
to be effective, leaders need to be emotionally intelligent: able to accurately understand
the relationships people have with them, understand the relationships that exist between
others within the organization, and recognize the bridging relationships between insiders
and outsiders (Balkundi & Kilduff, 2005).
Krishna's (2002) thesis is that social capital, while important for community
development in its own right, is enhanced by capable agents (i.e. leaders) at the local
level. Krishna found that both significant social capital and internal agency were
necessary to achieve optimal development results. Capable agents were seen not only to
have high levels of bonding social capital (internal relationships with peers), but also to
have high levels of bridging social capital (relationships with outsiders or agencies that
can be leveraged to get ahead). According to Krishna (2002), effective leaders, often seen
as "younger innovators" (p. 11), are emerging in communities to effectively bridge the
gap between the community members and bureaucracy and to mobilize social capital for
diverse economic and political ends.
Informal leaders as agents of transformation. Transformational leadership is a
process whereby leaders and followers motivate and empower each other (Avolio & Bass,
1988; Burns, 1978). Transformational leaders are moral agents and often stimulate their
followers to become transformational leaders themselves (Burns). Informal leaders at the
community level are well-positioned to change people's perspectives of themselves and
their capacities to affect positive change. As catalysts of change at the community level,
these informal leaders can be seen as transformative adult educators (see Burns; Cranton,
1994; Mezirow, 1978, 1991, 2002; Nyerere, 1988). As Nyerere (1988) states, "The first
function of adult education is to inspire both a desire for change, and an understanding
41
that change is possible" (p. 16). Mezirow (1978) adds "there is no higher priority for
adult education than to develop its potentialities for perspective transformation" (p. 109).
According to George (2000), as an effective agent of transformation, an informal
leader must instil "in others knowledge and appreciation of the importance of work
activities and behaviours; and [generate] and [maintain] excitement, enthusiasm,
confidence, and optimism...as well as cooperation and trust" (p. 1039). Though in
general agreement, Pescosolido (2001) suggests that the role of a leader in supporting
transformation changes over the course of the group's life cycle. Especially in the
beginning, the group's sense of efficacy is directly related to the informal leader's sense
of personal efficacy. As time goes on, this correlation diminishes and the leader appears
to have less influence over group efficacy. Also over time, the confidence of members
grows as does their comfort in understanding the environment in which they are working.
They are, thus, progressively less dependent on the informal leader to negotiate complex
variables on their behalf. This suggests a time-dependent theory of informal leadership in
which the informal leader's influence on group behaviour and norms eventually wanes.
This theory of time dependency may also apply to the role of outsiders in
supporting community-driven development. McNeely et al. (1999) present a discussion
on how the role of the outsider changes from leader to steward as community capacity is
built. At the heart of the idea of stewardship as a community development agent is a
"[commitment] to building an independent and capable entity that may not endorse your
organization's activities when it sets and acts on its own goals" (McNeely et al., p. 15).
Acknowledging the capacity of local people to govern and manage their own affairs
42
requires a shift in thinking on the part of the outside agent that may or may not be a
comfortable transition.
Appreciative Inquiry and Research
Pointing to the broader social implications of qualitative research and the
selection of methodology, Cooperrider and Srivastva (1987) call for researchers to
consider the generative capacity of positive approaches to research. Generative capacity
in this sense considers the ability to foster dialogue about that which is taken for granted
and people's capacity for generating fresh alternatives for social action.
Cooperrider and Srivastva (1987) contend that the traditional approach to research
is too entrenched in the problem-solving mentality, thus rendering it unsuited for
generating imaginative, passionate, and creative theory. This lack of theory creates a void
in the growth and transformation of the collective consciousness. They call for
researchers to "re-awaken the imaginative spirit" of research" (Cooperrider & Srivastva,
p. 17). According to the authors, in order to understand the complexity and implications
of social organizations, researchers must appreciate what is and seek to learn from it as
opposed to fixing it. Cooperrider and Srivastva argue that appreciative inquiry is uniquely
suited to generative theory in that it takes as its starting place the recognition and
appreciation of what is through interviews, storytelling, and a collective analysis of
success. The authors recognize that the method(s) selected for any research project are
impacted by the view of what the researcher wants to study; "through our assumptions
and choice of method we largely create the world we later discover" (Cooperrider &
Srivastva, p. 1).
43
Appreciative inquiry is often described in the literature as having four phases—
discovery, dream, design, and destiny (see Cooperrider & Whitney, 2005; Elliott, 1999;
Michael, 2005; Peterson, 2000). These phases are well summarized by Michael (2005):
The 4D Model... starts by appreciating, or 'Discovery'. This first phase of the organisational project is about learning: discovering the best of the moments and memories in the history of an organisation and its people. The second stage, 'Dreaming', builds on these exceptional life moments to envision what the organisation could be in the future. The focus of the [appreciative] process then moves to 'Designing' the organisational future envisioned by the group for itself, and finally, to agreeing on each person's role in achieving that 'Destiny' (p.223).
According to Cooperrider & Whitney (2005), "The core task of the discovery
phase is to discover and disclose positive capacity...[appreciative interviewing] provides
a practical way to ignite this 'spirit of inquiry'" (p. 7). During the discovery phase,
participants are encouraged to use appreciative interviewing techniques to draw out
stories of the positive past experiences of the individual and group (Cooperrider &
Whitney, 2005; Elliott, 1999; Michael, 2005; Peterson, 2000). Appreciative interviews
aim to highlight, learn from, and inspire positive energy for development—they are
typically designed to have open-ended dialogue, state questions in the affirmative, and
enhance the possibilities for story-telling (Peterson, 2000). According to Bushe (1995)
appreciative interviewing is about more than asking positive questions; it is aimed at
discovering, understanding and amplifying positive experiences to build energy for
change. Further to asking positive questions, a well-crafted appreciative interview seeks
to uncover how and why change took place. Appreciative interviews uncover the
contextual situation that has contributed to the realization of a particular story of
success—exploring the particulars of the contributions of individuals, the ways people
worked together, and the environmental factors that played a role (Elliott, 1999). While
appreciative interviewing is generally used as a technique that contributes to larger
appreciative inquiry interventions (involving all four phases), it has also been used as a
stand-alone research methodology (see Michael, 2005).
There is generally little critique of appreciative inquiry in the literature, however
certain scholars have raised questions about its evaluative capacity (Rogers & Fraser,
2003) and its use as a methodology for action research (Grant & Humphries, 2006). In an
article comparing and contrasting appreciative inquiry and critical theories approaches,
Grant and Humphries (2006) question whether "an overt commitment to 'the positive' by
a zealous appreciative inquirer [may silence] potentially emancipatory critique" (p. 415).
Rogers and Fraser (2003) add that there are certain contexts in which seeking "explicitly
for positive features as Appreciative Inquiry does.. .runs the very real risk of papering
over substantive problems and in fact colluding with the powerful people who want the
unexamined [problems] to remain so" (p. 77). They go on to say that, in situations of
"grinding poverty, gender inequality, violence, and disease.. .it seems that Appreciative
Inquiry is likely to be most useful when the purpose.. .is not to identify unknown
problems but to identify strengths.. .and build courage to attend to known problems" (p.
77). While appreciative inquiry may have certain limitations as a research methodology
depending on the focus of the study and the context in which it occurs, appreciative
interviewing techniques are uniquely suited to research that aims to bring to light and
learn from the existing capacity of an organization or community.
An appreciative research methodology, including appreciative interviewing,
appears compatible with an asset-based approach to community development. As
Cooperrider and Whitney (2005) posit in support of an appreciative approach, "human
45
systems grow in the direction of what they persistently ask questions about, and this
propensity is strongest and most sustainable when the means and ends of inquiry are
positively correlated" (p. 9). By highlighting what is strong and vibrant about a
community, it will continue to move in that direction.
Research on emergent or informal leadership has been tackled through
appreciative and participatory approaches (for example, see Beachy, Kemp, O'Loughlin,
Smith, & Soo, 2005; Pescosolido, 2002). According to Beachy et al., who used
appreciative interviewing to learn about emerging and established leaders within the
voluntary sector, appreciating successes generates positive and collaborative feelings
among learners. They note that, "appreciative inquiry served as a framework to discover
shared meaning and values, and to engage with others in the questions about what we
valued most...[and] when they were their best as leaders" (Beachy et al., 2005, p. 11). An
appreciative approach is well suited to research involving participants for whom the
richness of their experience can be explored through story-telling.
Summary of the Literature
In this critical review of the literature, I have examined the theories of
transformative adult education, asset-based and community-driven development, and
informal leadership. I have highlighted areas of convergence and divergence in these
three extensive bodies of theory, and also briefly reviewed literature supporting
appreciative approaches to qualitative data gathering. The review is intended to build on
the work of transformative adult education scholars, such as Mezirow (1978, 1991,1995,
1997, 2002), Cranton (1994), Freire (1970), and Taylor (1998), and to illuminate how
issues common to discussions of transformative adult education can be further
46
understood through an examination of community-driven development and informal
leadership theory.
There are three main areas of overlap in the literature examined in this review.
They are: (a) the interplay between individual and societal transformation; (b) the role of
power (and empowerment) in authentic transformation, and (c) the role of the informal
leader in catalyzing and realizing transformation (supported by an adult educator and/or
in the role of adult educator).
My review of transformative adult education illustrates that there is a strong
debate in the literature as to whether either individual transformation or societal
transformation is a necessary precursor to the other, and which type of transformation is
the ultimate goal of transformative learning (see Cranton, 1994; Taylor, 1998). Mezirow
(1991, 1997) claims that while individual transformation can sometimes inspire broader
societal transformation, it can be just as nobly an end in itself. He is but one theorists who
contends that individual transformation must come before social transformation (see also
Brookfield, 1987; Taylor, 1998). Freire (1970) disagrees on both counts, clearly stating
that the purpose of all transformation is social change for the liberation of the oppressed
and that individuals may be inspired to transform through their participation in collective
learning and action (1970). Community-driven development theorists espouse the
ultimate goal of community-level or societal transformation—as opposed to individual
transformation being a sufficient end in itself. This stance is informed by, among others,
the work of Freire (see also Cunningham, 1989; Freire & Macedo, 1995; Ledwith, 2001).
However, the interplay and importance of individual transformation is noted in
community-driven development and informal leadership literature, especially in terms of
the role of certain key leaders at the community level (often informal leaders) m
catalyzing broader transformation through modeling their own individual transformation
(see Diacon & Guimaraes, 2003; Mathie & Cunningham, 2003, 2005; Kouzes & Posner,
1988; Pescosolido, 2001; and McNeely et al., 1999). In this way, community-driven
development theory and the role of informal leaders support the idea that individual
transformation often precedes social transformation. Essentially, community-driven
development theory seems to draw out the interplay between the individual and group as
cyclical catalysts of transformation in one another. Some transformative adult educators,
such as Cranton (1994) and Boyd and Myers (1988), seem to agree.
The role of power and empowerment crosses the theories of transformation adult
education, community-driven development, and informal leadership. Using the theory of
transformative learning, Mezirow (1995) shows that learners' previous experiences are
the foundation for their world views and, furthermore, the reflection upon, and critical
examination of these experiences, is the starting point for transformation. This
acknowledgement of the centrality of the learners' experience illustrates a synergy
between transformative learning theory and community-driven development.
Community-driven development often begins with an examination and collective
appreciation of local assets, capacity, and knowledge such that development efforts are
driven by local realities and are more sustainable than externally-driven approaches
(Koch, 2005; Kretzmann & McKnight, 1993; Mathie & Cunningham 2003; 2005). Adult
educators seeking to support authentically transformative experiences let the power and
agenda rest with the learners. Authentic community-driven development lets the power
and agenda come from the community and not from an outsider.
48
If the goal is community-driven development in which the community's agenda is
the focus, the outsider must tread carefully and acknowledge the potential power
dynamics at play in his or her interactions in the community. Cranton (1994), Mezirow
(2002), and Freire and Gramsci (as cited in Ledwith, 2001) agree that adult educators
have a responsibility to not only trust in learners' power and capacity to think and act on
their own behalf, they must consciously relinquish their own directive power to let that of
the learners emerge. I explored the issue of power in the section on informal leadership,
especially showing the differences between formal and informal leaders, and in
understanding how informal leaders can catalyze transformation. The informal leader is
an adult educator who inherently shares power as he or she does not have formal position
power upon which to draw (Heifetz, 1994; Pielstick, 2000).
One question remaining is, to what extent does the community need to be ready
for learning and transformation? Also, what is the role of the leader or educator in
supporting this preparedness? Throughout the literature in this review, agency is a
concept discussed in terms of determining an individual or group's readiness for
transformation. The act of demonstrating one's agency can also be called active
citizenship (Merrifield, 2002), and is dependent on one's inclusion in the discourse
(Mezirow, 2002). According to Merrifield, adult educators can encourage critical
thinking and inclusion in the discourse, thus supporting the emergence of local agency
and the potential for transformation. Brookfield's (1987) discussion on critical thinking
as a precursor to meaningful civic engagement relates to the study of the role informal
leaders can play in challenging long-held beliefs to inspire change and development.
49
In the section on informal leadership, I illustrate how informal leaders can be
critical thinkers and risk takers, catalyzing elements of social networks, and agents of
transformation. Based on the literature, informal leaders are not only supported by adult
educators, but they may play the role of adult educator themselves in catalyzing change
through encouraging critical reflection and participation in discourse, promoting a
learner-driven agenda for transformation, and modelling positive transformation
throughout their social networks.
Theoretical Gaps in the Literature
My research serves to address certain theoretical gaps in the literature. One
notable gap is the significant focus in the informal leadership literature on business
leadership seemingly at the expense of community leadership. Certainly there are many
authors who discuss leadership from a community perspective, but they tend to focus on
formal or elected community leaders. The organizational leadership literature, while
having some studies of informal leadership and its interplay with formal leadership, is not
necessarily directly applicable to the study of informal leadership at the community level.
Mathie and Cunningham (2005) explain that community-driven development
typically relies on certain individuals who catalyze change from within communities, and
requires a strong associational base that mobilizes around such leaders to undertake
development initiatives. They explicitly call for further research on the qualities of
community leaders and the nature of leadership as it applies to community-driven
development. Through empirical research, I intend to help bridge the gap between
informal leadership and community development theory.
50
Another theoretical gap in the literature that my study addresses is the typical
"Northern" context of the literature on leadership, transformative adult education and, to
some extent, asset-based and community-driven development. The vast majority of
transformative adult education theory is rather vague in its dealing with variances across
cultures and societies, although there are notable exceptions (Freire, 1970; O' Sullivan,
Morell, & O'Connor, 2002; O'Sullivan & Taylor, 2004). While I acknowledge that these
theorists aim to develop theoretical principles not limited to a certain setting by using
their lens, what they gain in broad appeal, they lose in practical application. For example,
Mezirow's body of work is either without reference to the intricacies and considerations
of transformation across cultures and societies or is supported with examples from the
North. Further and varied empirical evidence is needed to test the relevance of his theory
of transformative learning across cultures. Similarly, leadership literature, in its distinct
organizational focus, also has a significant Northern bias. Most corporations and
organizations studied in leadership theory are based in Northern countries using Northern
business models. Asset-based and community-driven development literature—and its
informing bodies of theory such as social capital, sustainable livelihoods, and
participatory rural appraisal—do explore both Northern and Southern contexts, though
the role of informal leaders in Southern communities could be further developed. This
study contributes to filling this gap by providing empirical research from a Southern
context with relevance to these three topics.
A final gap in the literature that this study addresses is the use and implications of
using appreciative approaches to data gathering. The call of leading appreciative inquiry
theorists such as Cooperrider and Srivastva (1987) towards a positive and "generative"
51
approach to qualitative research resonates with me; this approach seems to logically fit
with asset-based approaches to community-driven development. The research
methodology employed in this study uses appreciative interviewing techniques and thus
provides an example for future researchers endeavouring to use an appreciative approach.
52
CHAPTER 3: DESCRIPTION OF THE STUDY
In this study I explore stories of the role of informal leadership in three instances
of communities undertaking a community-driven approach to development. Using an
appreciative approach to the research design and implementation, the internal and
external determinants of informal leadership are explored. The study is designed to
address certain gaps noted in the literature on informal leadership, transformative adult
education, and community-driven development by providing field-based research from a
community and Southern context. The study's Certificate of Ethical Approval granted by
the St. Francis Xavier University Research Ethics Board is included as Appendix B .
Research Methodology and Rationale
The study was qualitative in nature, using interviewing, observation, and a review
of relevant documentation to gather data. The research methodology for this study drew
on both an appreciative inquiry model (see Cooperrider & Srivastva, 1987; Cooperrider
& Whitney, 2005) and a multiple case study analysis as the basis for the questioning and
overall approach. Multiple case study analysis, as presented by Stake (2006), can provide
an additional layer of analysis and generalizability of findings to the researcher. This type
of analysis balances the healthy tension between the generalizable (multi-case) and
particular (single case). By exploring the experiences of informal leaders in three distinct
communities, I was able to analyze the role of informal leaders from a broader
perspective than would have been possible based on data from a single site.
1 Since submitting and receiving approval from the Research Ethics Board, I changed the title of my thesis to better reflect the discussion and analysis presented—from "Determinants and Implications of Informal Leadership in Community-driven Development", as is noted on the Certificate of Ethical Approval, to "Informal Leadership in Community-driven Development: Implications for Transformation." There were no changes in my research design or methodology.
53
The study also provides an example of an appreciative approach to research,
adding to the literature supporting the generative capacity of such an approach.
According to Elliot (1999), the overarching goal of an appreciative approach is to
"[transform] a culture from one that sees itself in largely negative terms.. .to one that sees
itself as having within it the capacity to enrich and enhance the quality of life of all its
stakeholders" (p. 12). My research methodology kept with this philosophy of allowing
participants to recognize and celebrate their capacities and past accomplishments in the
analysis of the stories of their emergence as informal leaders.
In conducting the interviews, I used appreciative interviewing techniques, which
focused on learning from past successes. As each community was already entrenched in
its own development process, my intention was not to introduce a broad community
development approach such as appreciative inquiry. Instead, I wanted to construct a
research methodology that complimented the work already underway in these
communities while still allowing for deeper reflection on the critical role that informal
leaders have played in the communities' successes. Given the synergy between asset-
based approaches to development and appreciative inquiry, I chose to design interviews
that adhered to the same general principles used in those conducted in the discovery stage
of a more formal appreciative inquiry.
According to Bushe (1995), an appreciative intervention (whether full scale
appreciative inquiry or more informal appreciative interviewing), seeks to accomplish
three things. First, it seeks to discover the best examples of past success in the
organization or community. Participants were asked to share stories of past successes and
their experiences of development within their community with questions such as: "Can
54
you tell me a story about a time when you felt the community development process in
your community was going very well—when people were working together and
achieving their goals?" and "What is the most significant change that you have witnessed
in your community since you became involved as a leader in the community? Why was it
significant?"
Second, an appreciative intervention seeks to understand what creates the best
examples of past successes—further exploring the context in which success took place. In
my research methodology, I used probing questions to help participants examine the
factors (internal and external) that contributed to their past successes more deeply. Such
probing questions included "What role did you/others/the surrounding environment play
in [a particular experience]?"; "What personal characteristics do you think [informal
leaders/you] possess that helped you emerge as a leader in your community?"; and "Have
there been particular people from outside the community that have supported [informal
leaders/you] in being actively involved [within the community]?". Probing for further
details about the success stories gave participants the opportunity and encouragement to
analyze their own situations and their reasons for success. This was intended to support
the maintenance of ownership of the information within the community through allowing
an opportunity for reflective learning by participants.
Third, an appreciative intervention seeks to amplify the people and processes who
exemplify success in the community. According to Bushe (1995), "Through the process
of the inquiry itself, the elements that contribute to superior performance are reinforced
and amplified" (p. 16). Although I didn't intend to carry out a comprehensive
development process, I did want to contribute to the positive development of the
55
community by discovering, understanding, and amplifying the experiences of informal
leaders. My presence as an interviewer, interested in and appreciative of informal leaders,
was a method of amplification in and of itself.
Interviews lasted between 45 and 120 minutes, depending on the time each
participant could spend in discussion away from other commitments. All participants
were asked about themselves, their communities, and their perspectives on leadership and
its role in their communities (see Appendix C for a full list of interview questions).
Research Design
The field work for this study took place in February 2006 in three communities of
Mindanao, Philippines. The communities were identified collaboratively by members of
XUCAC and Coady staff. The research for this study was conducted concurrently with a
broader research study of the role of assets and agency in successful community-driven
development. Consensus was reached by the research team of the broader study—of
which I was a member—as to what was meant by "successful"; representative
communities were identified accordingly. A case of successful community-driven
development was deemed to be one in which the community had mobilized its own
resources for community development in an ongoing way and with minimal support from
an external agency.
Each community had several documented stories of how its citizens had been able
to come together to improve the economic or social situation. Each community was also
involved in ongoing action research on asset-based approaches to community-driven
development through XUCAC extension work through which XUCAC played a notable
role, at least initially, in helping the community members recognize and organize their
56
internal capacities to drive their own development initiatives. From the pool of leaders in
each of these communities, through consultation with XUCAC, formal community
leaders and other community members, I identified potential research participants and
subsequently recruited them.
Once potential participants were identified, XUCAC extension workers and I
approached individual people. I chose not to present interview participants with a written
consent form to read and sign due to their generally low literacy levels. Instead, I worked
closely with the XUCAC staff and translators to verbally explain the purpose of the study
and their potential role within it.
Data collection techniques for this study ranged from oral accounts, gathered
during interviews; found documents, including existing project documentation; and
written responses, including my personal notes and reflections. Throughout the field
research, I kept detailed field notes of personal observation about the subjects,
communities, and context. I also included a thorough review of project documentation on
the promotion of asset-based and community-driven approaches to development in these
communities.
I took a case study approach to the research design in order to explore in detail the
specific role and experiences of six informal leaders in three distinct communities.
Because many of the participants in my study had low levels of literacy, I deemed
interviews to be the most appropriate method to gather primary data. I designed the
interview phase of the research to take place in two parts. Part 1 comprised of interviews
with six informal leaders while Part 2 comprised of interviews with six other stakeholders
from the three communities. The interview questions were designed to reflect an
57
appreciative approach to data gathering in the interest of both researcher and participant
being able to learn from the communities' past successes.
Although the communities represented in this study were identified because they
were deemed to be successfully engaged in driving their own development by using local
skills, assets and the local agenda to guide their initiatives, the role of XUCAC in the
development stories of each community should be noted. Whether through providing
formal training, assistance in community organizing or acting as a link between the
community and external institutions, the XUCAC extension staff were very engaged in
each community's development as well as in the emergence of their informal leaders. In
addition, the nature of my research methodology in selecting the participants for Part 1
necessitated XUCAC to be able to identify or verify informal leaders in each community,
and so participants tended to be those with whom XUCAC had experienced closer
contact. Given this, there is a certain element of leadership emergence throughout the
case studies that may not be applicable in other non-supported contexts.
I gave the participating XUCAC staff an official letter of invitation and a consent
form, which they each signed. This document outlined their potential role as a translator
in the research process and defined the purpose of the study. Six of the 12 interviews
were conducted through translation. There were a total of three people who translated for
me, each having signed this consent form. I also presented participating XUCAC staff
members with an additional document that explained the rights of interview participants
because they would be working with me in translating this information to interviewees
both before and after the formal interviews. Some of the XUCAC staff were also
interviewed in Part 2, so the distribution of this document served a double purpose. It was
58
made explicitly clear to each person that, under no circumstance, they should exert
pressure on a potential interview candidate to participate against his or her will. Given
that many of the XUCAC staff had pre-existing relationships with certain members of the
selected communities, it was important to stress this point.
My own study on informal leadership was embedded within a broader study of
the role of assets and agency in community-driven development. The research was
carried out simultaneously and I was an active researcher in both. Certain documentation
gathered for the broader study was useful in understanding the context of my research;
additionally, some of my field notes were influenced by the questions being asked for the
other study. Consistent with the method of reporting in the broader study, I have used
pseudonyms for all interview participants in this study, while using real names of
organizations and villages as I found no reasonable ethical concern in doing so.
Research Participants
The research consisted of semi-structured, appreciative interviews conducted in
two parts. In Part 1,1 interviewed six informal leaders (two from each of the three
communities). This group includes four men and two women and reflect a range of ages
from 31 to 44. In Part 2,1 interviewed six other stakeholders from each community,
including formal leaders, development practitioners, and other community members.
Each participant in this group wase required to be able to speak to the work, influence
and/or impact of the informal leaders identified from his or her community. The Part 2
participants include four women and two men and reflect a range of ages from 30 to 50.
Pseudonyms are used throughout the presentation of the findings in order to protect the
anonymity of participants. The names that begin with the letter L indicate that the
59
individual is a participant in Part 1: an informal leader. The names that begin with the
letter O indicate that the individual is a participant in Part 2: one other than an informal
leader.
Certain informal leaders interviewed for this study could be considered to hold
formal leadership positions as well. The line between formal and informal leadership can
often blur depending on the community and the context. This blurriness is explored in
more detail in the case studies.
Analysis
Immediately following each interview, I transcribed my detailed written interview
notes into electronic document files. This was an important step as the stories and
experiences of each interview were still fresh in my mind. Given more time between
interview and transcription, I may not have been able to capture as much of the rich detail
of the interviews. I captured the content of the interviews in the same chronological order
as it was shared in the conversational interview process. This presented a challenge later
when trying to extrapolate the various responses to a certain question across interviews;
however, I felt the importance of capturing the stories, as much as possible, in the spirit
and cadence in which they were told. This also helped to capture all the information that
was shared without worrying about "where it fit." At a later date, I took the notes from
each interview and filtered for the results of each question. Though time-consuming, this
process allowed the authenticity of the participants' stories, as well as long verbatim
quotes, to remain intact.
60
Findings
In each of the three case studies that follow, I provide a contextual backdrop for the
stories of informal leadership by briefly outlining key details in the background of each
community, as well as the significant elements and achievements of their approach to
community development. I then describe, in detail, the stories of two informal leaders
from each community, highlighting specific internal and external determinants of their
leadership emergence. The stories are developed through the personal testimonials of
informal leaders and are supported by other stakeholders who participated in Part 2 of the
interview phase (such as formal community leaders and representatives of external
development agencies). The case studies are followed by a presentation of findings across
all three case studies, specifically looking at the common characteristics and internal
determinants of the six informal leaders, as well as the supporting and challenging factors
that impacted their emergences as informal leaders.
Case 1: Informal Leadership in Midkiwan
Midkiwan is the largest among the puroks of Bayanga barangay. Situated 15 km
from Cagayan de Oro City, the roads are in poor condition and public transportation is
available only on Saturdays so that residents can transport their crops to the market to sell.
Agriculture and livestock-raising are the main livelihoods of the people. There are 74
families in this purok, which has one church, an elementary school, a meeting hall, a
basketball court, and a daycare centre. Some people own land, though many are tenants,
or live far from the land that they own and rent land in order to live in the more populated
centre. XUCAC has been working with this community for almost 10 years in various
capacities and, since 2001, has been piloting an ABCD approach.
61
Faith is very important to the people of Midkiwan. Approximately 80% of the
community members are Catholic and the church is well attended. The initial entry point
for XUC AC to the community was through their contact with a group of 15 active church
members. These 15 individuals were often regarded as leaders within the congregation
for their active participation in church and community life. XUC AC field staff conducted
an appreciative inquiry with this group to find out the community's past successes in
working together. They also used various other participatory tools to discover the assets,
strengths, and capacities in the community. With this information then in the hands of the
community, the church group began to work with XUCAC to develop a community
action plan based on the findings. However, seeing the need for a broader community
association in which all families could be represented, the church group asked XUCAC to
help facilitate the formation of the Midkiwan Community Development Association
(MICODA).
MICODA elected its 10-person leadership group to play a key role in mobilizing
the community, as well as monitoring and evaluating community projects. However, the
process of transferring leadership of development activities from XUCAC to MICODA
took time and dedication from the XUCAC field staff—developing local leaders who felt
comfortable mobilizing local resources was not an overnight process. According to Olivia,
XUCAC's lead field staff working in Midkiwan throughout the ABCD process:
For the first six months I was in the community, I facilitated all the meetings. Then I gave leadership training to anyone that was interested to participate. Many came for the trainings during which they had a chance to practice their skills and do role playing. I started telling them that after the trainings it was they that would have to facilitate all their meetings... [Now that this is happening], my focus is on supporting project implementation.
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Leader 1: Lily. The first of the two informal leaders interviewed in Midkiwan is a
43-year-old woman who I refer to as Lily. She is married and the mother of five children.
She and her husband are organic farmers of banana, corn and coconut. They also raise
livestock. For the past 2 years, she has been the president of MICOD A.
Lily has experience as a leader and teacher within the church. In addition to her
14 years as a catechism teacher and youth group leader, she recounted how she came to
be seen as an informal leader in Midkiwan:
I used to be a member of the community church group, but then I did not see myself as a leader. Other people said that I was. Anytime there was a training, I attended it. I wanted to learn and that's what people saw in me. When facilitators asked questions, no one wanted to speak so it was me that spoke.
According to Olivia, "Lily as a leader is calm, even if she is scolded or insulted.
She is patient and relaxed. She can respond politely to insulting people and then just get
on with it." Olivia continued, saying, "Lily prays so much, I think she has spiritual
guidance and she offers other people spiritual guidance. She has had a challenging home
life but she does not complain. She just keeps moving forward."
Lily has been supported in her leadership emergence by XUCAC. She has taken
part in many capacity-building trainings and workshops offered to MICODA members by
XUCAC, including animal management, leadership, and human relationships. She has
also benefited from one-on-one support, particularly from Olivia, as XUCAC attempted
to transfer leadership and meeting facilitation to the community through MICODA.
However, the active involvement of XUCAC in supporting the emergence of Lily
(and Leeto, the other informal leader interviewed in Midkiwan) had both advantages and
disadvantages for the emerging leaders. According to Omar, an elected leader on the
community council, "Lily and Leeto were given the information to give to everyone else
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from the outside organization.. .which helped them maintain their leadership role."
However, as some other community members noticed the extra attention being paid to
these few people, there were scattered incidents of backlash. In Lily's case, she had
volunteered to lead the local daycare centre as she had the most experience in this area,
but the community would not allow her to take on that role. Olivia acknowledged the role
that XUCAC's attention to Lily likely played in the community's decision:
The people said that Lily already had enough responsibilities and so they wanted [another] person... Maybe some people were jealous of Lily at the beginning because she was getting a lot of attention from us and a lot of responsibilities within the project.
Lily has had to overcome challenges to taking a leadership role in her community.
Most significantly, her position was regularly challenged both verbally and physically, by
another community member who, according to Lily "continuously tried to create disunity
in our group and separate the people." Through dealing with this challenging person,
Lily's confidence in her leadership grew:
Finally there was one time when I realized that if I just kept quiet her trouble would never stop. So it was high time to fight back and show my leadership position. I confronted the person.. .1 told her she was not welcome at the meetings. Now it is easier to work.. .and I am able to lead the group better.
Omar, Ophelia, Olivia, and Lily herself, concur that Lily supports the
community's transformation by always trying to motivate others through setting an
example with her own behaviour. According to Ophelia, the leader of the local farming
cooperative, "when something has to be done, [Lily] just does it and does not have to
wait for someone else to do it. She does things herself and takes initiative. People are
motivated by her behaviour." Lily herself described a time when she motivated people to
come together to build a community meeting space: "During the construction I tried to set
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an example for other people. If I was not there working alongside people and if I tried to
demand their participation or materials, they will not do it." Lily's capacity to motivate
others through her words and action has secured her position as an informal leader in the
eyes of others in the community for many years.
Leader 2: Leeto. The second of the two informal leaders interviewed in
Midkiwan is a 40-year-old man I refer to here as Leeto. Married with four children, Leeto
makes his livelihood from raising animals, farming corn, squash, and cassava, and selling
firewood gathered from his land. He is an active member of MICODA, as well as the
local consumers' cooperative and the church association.
According to Omar, "Leeto is seen as a leader because he is active in every
activity. He is trustworthy and hardworking and dedicated—I can see this in his
participation in every project and every meeting." Ophelia added to this description:
"Leeto seems hard-working and he always asks questions in meetings about projects. He
is not shy to ask questions and to talk to all people. Most of the people here are shy and
timid but he talks to everyone." Leeto described his actions similarly, saying, "I was one
of the only very few men involved in the community development work. I participated in
every project of MICODA—I attend meetings and give my labour and even my carpentry
skills."
Leeto has taken part in capacity building trainings including community animal
health, organizing, and animal management. As Leeto described, his participation in
XUCAC's capacity building trainings had an impact on his emergence as a leader in the
community:
After taking part in the community animal health workshop, I was selected by the facilitators to become a community animal health volunteer... [so] if someone has
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a problem with their animal in the community I am able to help them. If I can't I can refer them to the city vet or sometimes I go to the city vet on their behalf and ask questions so that I can bring them back the answer.
Leeto has also faced challenges in emerging as a leader. According to Olivia,
"Leeto is easily discouraged and some people do not like him... [However], he also
responds well to affirmation so we.. .keep giving him that." Echoing the value of such
support, Leeto acknowledged how he feels XUCAC staff helped him grow as a leader:
"They trusted me and gave me confidence in my abilities when they asked me to be a
trainer and a community animal health volunteer."
Similar to the experience of Lily, Leeto acknowledged the risks associated with
the perception that he or other MICODA members are XUCAC favourites. He said:
The people there at [XUCAC] noticed me and began to assign me tasks and talk to me as a contact in the community. Another man in the community was upset by this and thought it wasn't right that I was getting too much power. He started telling stories about me.
Leeto described how participating in the ABCD process has helped him to see his
own potential and has given him confidence that he can support transformation in others.
He explained:
Before ABCD, I was already a church member and leader but I wasn't sure what tasks or direction to take or what to do. We all just went to church on Sundays and met friends after and that is all. Being involved in ABCD helped me see my potential. I started to see myself as an asset that can be used for mobilizing people. I have gained so much knowledge in sustainable agriculture and everyday I go to my farm and see that I can use more land.
Leeto's passion for his community and the process of asset-based community
development have buoyed him through challenges and helped him maintain an infectious
positive attitude about local capacity in Midkiwan.
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Case 2: Informal Leadership in San Roque
San Roque is one of 13 puroks in Tongantongan barangay. There are 53 families
in this pur ok and, located in the upland, it is one of the poorest and most isolated areas of
Tongantongan. It has few infrastructural resources with the notable exception of a
learning centre which will be discussed. Most residents rely on agriculture for their
livelihood, though the hilly terrain creates challenges for farming. Within the last 2 years,
a road has been established linking San Roque to the rest of the barangay and enabling
farmers to have significantly easier access to markets.
The Director of XUCAC's Sustainable Agriculture Centre described how, despite
their lack of physical and financial resources, the community has other assets that have
allowed them to succeed in various community-driven development initiatives:
Community cooperation and strong cohesion are the most important assets in San Roque. Although they have fewer financial resources from which to draw as compared to their lowland counterparts, they have been able to come together to successfully build a learning centre, host major training events, help one another establish productive farms, and become model farmers. (Tagupa, personal communication, February 6, 2006)
XUCAC's intervention in the community began in 2001 when they facilitated a
process of asset-mapping, visioning, and community development. They started by
working with volunteer purok leaders to develop and conduct asset-mapping surveys of
all community members. Each of the 13 puroks of Tongantongan have an elected purok
leader—an unpaid volunteer who acts as spokesperson for their area and who is given the
opportunity to participate in capacity-building trainings, often around leadership.
2 Tagupa's statement was made in an informal conversation with me during the course of my field research. He is an XUCAC employee, was fully informed of the study, and signed a consent form to participate in the research project. When I recorded that statement, I informed him that it may be used in my report and he consented to its potential inclusion. He was not a formally identified research participant.
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With increased local organization into associations, teams and local representation,
there seems to be an effect of structuring or formalizing the leadership positions of
informal leaders. San Roque is such a case where, in the process of developing a strong
community-driven development model, the differentiation between formal and informal
leadership has become somewhat blurred, particularly from the view of an outsider.
However, it was clear to me from talking with community members and formal leaders
within this community that the local people do not consider the pur ok leaders to be
formal leaders. They are instead seen as neighbours who are nominated to share the
problems and concerns of their village with the formal leadership of the barangay as
necessary. Essentially, if individuals are selected to bepurok leaders, it is an indication
that the people see them as leaders and trust them to represent the important local issues
to those with authority to institute changes. It is important to note, however, that in a
different context—one with a more established and formalized hierarchical leadership
structure—San Roque''s pur ok leaders could be seen to hold formal positions of
leadership.
The involvement of XUCAC has likely influenced the types of informal leaders
that have emerged and the role that they play in leading their community. This finding is
supported by the stories of informal leaders that were uncovered in this study. XUCAC
offers regular trainings on sustainable agriculture practice and, from those who have
participated and implemented the learning on their farms, XUCAC actively recruits a
pool of farmer-trainers. This pool of people, often with little formal education, is
encouraged to share their knowledge and skills with others—thus building confidence
and instilling a sense of capacity in their abilities.
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Most of the people interviewed, whether leaders or others, indicated that the
informal leaders in San Roque teach without being teachers—this is demonstrated in the
stories of both informal leaders below. Differing from a social service model of
community development, these leaders demonstrate how helping themselves can help
others as well. According to Oscar, a community development worker for over 20 years
in the community, informal leaders "allow and encourage other leaders to emerge [by
making] a difference in their own farm and family first." This is both inspiring and
educational for others in the community, demonstrating the capacity of local people,
knowledge, and resources.
Leader 3: Luis. The first of the two informal leaders interviewed from San Roque
is a 35-year-old man who is married with four children. Luis, a pseudonym, is most
notably a well-respected and successful farmer, though he is also seen as a leader through
the role he plays in helping to organize the local church association. In addition, Luis was
recently elected the chairperson of the upland division of the Tongantongan Organic
Farmers Society for Sustainable Agriculture (TOFSSA). His election to this more formal
leadership position seems to have been precipitated by his success as an informal leader.
Luis and his wife were early adopters of sustainable agriculture practices in San
Roque, participating in some of the first trainings offered by XUCAC. According to
Oscar, "[Luis'] farming activity is very successful—he has his own techniques and
financially he is capable. People respect a person that is financially capable and food
secure."
Luis is challenged in balancing his responsibilities to the broader community with
those to his home life, which has impacted his ability to emerge as a leader. He said, "I
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neglect my family and my farm sometimes as a leader because I have to solve problems
in the community. I have tried to adjust this situation.. .but it is a challenge."
Though he does not have formal education, Luis is known as a teacher in the
community. According to Luis, "I teach people things often but I am not a teacher. It is
the informal way I share my skills and knowledge." In such a way, Luis was one of the
first to reinstitute the practice of bayanihan in San Roque. Bayanihan, a traditional
system of organizing agricultural labour among the local people, involves neighbours
meeting to help one another with daily farming activities or special projects and/or
renovations. According to Luis, "before we started changing our farms [to sustainable
agriculture], bayanihan was not functioning here and we were separated." Luis described
how he organized bayanihan:
It takes more labour to farm [without pesticides] and I could not handle all the work alone. I felt the need to organize bayanihan to mobilize my friends and neighbours to help me with establishing rock wall contour farming on my land. When people saw that my trial farm was successful, naturally they wanted to learn about it because they too wanted a successful farm. They asked me to share my knowledge and so I agreed as long as it was through bayanihan. First I invited 16 members to work with me on my land and learn from what I was doing. Then we organized a schedule to work together on their lands.
Because of the heavy influence of XUCAC in the community, the re-emergence
of bayanihan is particularly significant in demonstrating San Roque's community-driven
approach to development. According to Luis,
Although [XUCAC] was playing an important role in the community through giving us knowledge about sustainable agriculture, it was us that decided to use bayanihan. We used our unity and cooperation to organize the labour ourselves. [XUCAC] continues to help us know what activities.. .we need to mobilize our bayanihan to achieve.
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Through his natural skills for both farming and teaching, Luis is able to demonstrate to
other community members on a daily basis that great results are possible through relying
on local assets, including each other.
Leader 4: Luke. The second informal leader interviewed in San Roque is an
indigenous man, just over 40 years old, who is referred to as Luke. He is the purok leader,
helping to bring issues from their small community to the broader barangay. Luke is
noted for his care and compassion. From his own perspective his people skills and
willingness to participate in activities contribute to his success as a leader. He said,
The reason that I am a successful leader is that I am down to earth and I communicate with the people.. .1 talk to people individually and ask people how they are and listen to their problems.. .1 don't try to teach people but I try to set a good example.
Because Luke is a formal leader {datu) of the indigenous people in the area (an
inherited position), he was already seen to be a leader in this small indigenous
community. However, he has emerged as a leader for both the indigenous and non-
indigenous people in San Roque through his involvement as a purok leader. According to
Oscar, "Luke is sharp on knowing social processes. He has slowly transformed into a
strong leader through being the purok leader.. .He can [now] command and make
decisions." Oscar continued, saying, "Although he is a leader within the traditional
indigenous system, he is also respected by the non-indigenous people in the community."
Throughout the course of interviews and informal discussions, no one else in the
community (including Luke himself) mentioned that he is the datu, indicating that his
formal leadership position may have had a minimal impact on his emergence as an
informal leader for the broader, non-indigenous community in San Roque.
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The formal leadership in Tongantongan (especially the barangay captain, Ona)
has allowed for, and supports the emergence of, informal leaders in the role of purok
leader. These leaders are assessed by their more formal counterparts to have a unique
ability to motivate and inspire their peers to action; they are also considered by the people
to be equals and are respected for volunteering their time to work toward the greater good
of the community. Although volunteer purok leaders were already in place, the beginning
of the ABCD process changed the role of the purok leaders. According to Ona,
Now, instead of only asking for outside assistance, [from the barangay council or government agencies], they help organize people to use our local resources. The purok leaders attend quarterly meetings organized by the barangay council so that they can share their ideas, problems and strategies with one another and with the council, thereby building their leadership capacity.
According to Ona, through his position as a. purok leader, Luke plays a larger role
in leading the local people than the barangay council (formal leadership). He always
attends meetings and is close to the people so he knows what issues to share on their
behalf. Luke has made considerable linkages with formal leaders and agencies outside of
San Roque through his dedication to San Roque and his role as purok leader. For example,
it was largely through Luke's initiative that the barangay decided to construct the farm-
to-market road that has made a significant impact to the livelihoods of people in San
Roque. As a motivator, he encouraged people to participate in and benefit from the
project: "Through meetings and talking to people individually, I motivated people to start
growing more produce to sell and to get organized for when the road is built."
One of the most successful community-driven projects undertaken in San Roque,
the construction of a massive local learning centre, also relied on the internal mobilizing
and external advocating skills of Luke. According to Luke,
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It was me that worked with the barangay captain to make a formal resolution to the city to donate corrugated iron for the roof of the addition to the [learning centre] which was successful. I also secured food donations from the barangay to support the community members engaged in bayanihan to build the [learning centre] because they were not spending the time working their land on the days we were working together. This way we would stay together to work and not disperse when it was time to eat. The barangay captain told me where to go, who to talk to, what to write, and what to say. But it was me that did the work.
Case 3: Informal Leadership in Kitaotao
The rural village of Kitaotao is a squatter settlement comprised of 18 families and
40 households on the outskirts of a city. All 18 families are of indigenous descent and
identify strongly with their traditional tribal—lumad—culture. They follow their own
religion and have retained customary practices for initiation, marriage, gender-based
division of labour, and social sanctioning. Like many indigenous groups, lumad people
face oppression, discrimination and negative stereotypes about their ability to contribute
meaningfully to society. To a certain extent, these negative stereotypes have permeated
this lumad community's way of thinking about itself.
Each tribal community has a traditional tribal leader or datu, an inherited position
from father to son or son-in-law. Although lumad communities exist within the formal
Philippine system of government, "the government [recognizes] the inherent right of the
tribe to self governance and [respects] their values to freely pursue their economic, social
and cultural development" (Morden, 1986, p. 1). According to Morden, the datu is known
as "the arbiter, preacher, facilitator, warrior, protector, provider, and mediator of the
community" (p. 1). Under the leadership of the datu and other elders, lumad culture tends
to support and value consensus building within its communities. According to Oria, the
community organizer seconded to the community by XUCAC, in some residents' eyes,
the situation in Kitaotao differs from the norm. Their datu is supported by some, but
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many feel his authoritarian style impedes the community's development. He is seen by
many within the community to be unapproachable and autocratic, alienating the
community members by not including them in any decision-making.
Despite these challenges, there are strong social networks in Kitaotao, including
the emergence of a group of informal leaders who have been committed to participating
in the ABCD process with the XUCAC community organizer, despite the opposition of
the datu. The group's largest and most successful project is a 0.7 hectare communal
garden. According to Oria, the gardening association took social and political risks in
breaking away from the traditional system; they faced harassment from supporters of the
datu that caused the resolve of some members to waver. Through the support and
encouragement of community organizers, however, the gardening group began to realize
their potential to lead their own affairs, especially after taking part in leadership training
to build their confidence.
Of particular interest in this case is the active role of the community organizer,
Oria. Over the course of 3 years, she visited the community each week. During her visits,
she facilitated community-building tools aimed at discovering and mobilizing the local
asset base for local development. She often organized skills workshops for the local
people as they identified the kinds of training they would find useful. In addition, she also
took the time to build relationships with community members. She made a point of
participating in community events and often slept in the community, integrating as much
as possible with local life.
Despite this intensive personal commitment, Oria believes that the success in
Kitaotao reflected her work to gradually make the role of community organizer
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unnecessary. Throughout the process, she emphasized to the core group that they were
empowered and could become self-reliant. The emergence of a highly motivated and
committed core group was essential in Oria's eventual efforts to extricate herself from
their initiatives. They were able to internalize the process of community organizing and
continue to make successful strides even as the community organizer pulled away from a
leadership role.
Leader 5: Leonard. The first of the two informal leaders interviewed in Kitaotao
is a 31-year-old unmarried man who is referred to as Leonard. Leonard inherited a small
piece of land and decided to donate it to the association for the garden. He has
subsequently emerged as a leader of the association. In his role, he monitors members'
progress in the garden, manages the communal funds, and procures project supplies.
According to Oria, Leonard is acknowledged to be a natural arbitrator and
mediator within the communal gardening group and the community in general. As Oria
said, Leonard is "straightforward about his opinions and ideas [and] knows how to stand
up for himself." She went on to describe Leonard's leadership style in contrast to the
style of the formal community leader: "[Leonard puts] into action what he says.... He
will work hard—even alone—for what he believes."
As with informal leaders in both Midkiwan and Tongantongan, Leonard is one
who leads by example, using his youthful energy to motivate and encourage others. He
insisted that, "When I don't initiate activities or ideas, people are lax.. .If you call a group
together you must be the first to work so that you motivate the other people." He is a
strong proponent of consensus and democratic decision-making, though he acknowledges
this to be a challenging process at times. He said,
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One of the challenges of being an informal leader is that everyone is able to have their say and so sometimes my decisions—which would be good—are overthrown for the sake of argument. But people have the right to challenge decisions.. .It is never me dealing with the problem myself.
Several external factors have supported Leonard's emergence as a leader within
his community. He attended several capacity building courses offered through
XUCAC—notably an extensive course in nursery management—which have helped him
in his role leading the local gardening association. He is also employed at the local
barangay office. Because of this connection to the barangay office, people in the
community approach him with conflicts or issues that they feel may need to be
channelled to the barangay level. He becomes an intermediary and sometimes helps
resolve conflicts before formal leaders must become involved. Through his connection to
the barangay office and officials, he has also been able to help give information to the
barangay council about developments in the gardening project that keeps them informed
and engaged.
The most significant challenge faced by Leonard in his emergence as a leader has
been the influence of the formal leadership of the datu. According to Leonard, "before
[ABCD], people in this community were not comfortable. It was as if we were living in a
situation of martial law. Now people see the benefits of working together on this land."
Since he and the others in the gardening group have successfully pulled away from the
purview of the datu, with the notable support and encouragement of XUCAC field staff,
Leonard finds his role as a leader to be easier and more effective.
Leader 6: Lia. The second informal leader interviewed in Kitaotao is a 42-year-
old woman who is referred to as Lia. She is married and the mother of six children. After
participating in leadership training organized by XUCAC for the members of the
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communal gardening association, Lia was nominated from among them to be the
president of the association. Lia is responsible for calling and facilitating meetings,
keeping in contact with the community organizer and mediating any conflicts that arise
within the group and at meetings. She described the process of consensus building that
she leads in the group:
As a group we really try to be united... [and] I help to convince people of the importance of this. I always try to give my ideas and always get ideas from others.. .Decisions must not just be from one person, they have to be from the whole group. [Consensus] is very important to us, especially because our previous leader—who we overthrew—was so autocratic.
She has attended training offered by XUCAC, including a course on food
processing and another on leadership. She is known as someone who always attends
trainings offered. Outspoken and straightforward, she also tries to motivate others
through her actions. She said, "I don't entertain side comments about how hard the work
is.... I do my share... [and] I work hard enough to meet [my] needs. In this way I am an
example for others."
When mentioning some of Lia's personal characteristics that helped her emerge
as an informal leader in Kitaotao, Oria said, "She will always deliver on what she says
and promises. With money, you can trust her to the last centavo. She is honest and has
good values. If she doesn't like something she will tell it to you directly." Oria went on to
say that both Lia and Leonard "think of others before themselves." In sharp contrast to
the leadership approach of the datu, Lia is seen to lead with a sense of respect for the
contributions and ideas of each member. As she herself commented, "Now we realize
that our resources are not just our plants, they are also our skills and talents. We are
dedicated to the group—to motivate, develop and grow with each other."
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Lia credited XUCAC with some of the impetus for her emergence as a leader
through their leadership training and their informing the group of the structure needed to
best function and achieve success. She explained, saying:
We needed to have a name to register as an association which would enable us to be eligible for certain benefits from local government as well as certain lobbying power. We also needed to be registered in such a way as to not incite anger from the old leaders—they were all men so a women's group seemed a logical choice. [An XUCAC staff member] encouraged us to elect a president.
Lia went on to describe how XUCAC, and particularly the intervention of Oria, helped
her and the gardening group break away from the datu who did not support their work.
At first we didn't think that we would be able to separate from the formal leadership but through ABCD and [Oria's] intervention, we realized that we can have ownership over our assets. We became firm in our decision to move away from the formal leadership structure because we knew we had the ability to do it.
Speaking to the significance of Oria's role in developing her confidence and
leadership capacity, as well as the confidence of others in the community, Lia offered this
comment: "Oria taught us how to link with the local government unit and made us realize
that we are capable to coordinate and link to government." As an outside agent, Oria's
role in supporting the emergence of Lia and other informal leaders in Kitaotao is
significant and reflects the unique nature of the leadership emergence in this community.
Having presented the findings about the individual informal leaders in each of the
three communities, I will now present certain generalized findings about informal leaders
in this context that emerged across the case studies.
Formal and Informal Leadership
I asked all 12 participants to consider the differences between formal and informal
leaders from their perspective. I prompted them by asking them to consider the
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advantages and disadvantages of each type of leader. Four main themes emerged from the
responses: salary/financial security, trust, collaboration, and flexibility.
Nearly all participants cited that an important difference between formal and
informal leaders is that the former are paid while the latter are not. Given the rural
Philippines context, this income provides formal leaders with a relative level of security
and has a significant bearing on their ability to lead. It also highlights the struggles that
emergent informal leaders must overcome. Because formal leaders can expect to be paid,
they are perceived to have fewer worries in their work and their personal life. This issue
is summed up succinctly by Ophelia, who said, "It is hard to be an informal leader
because you also have your family and your livelihood to worry about." Leeto agreed that
balancing personal and community responsibilities can be more challenging for an
informal leader: "Formal leaders are effective in following up on community activities
because it is their job and so they have the time to do it. Aside from community activities,
I must also look after my family and my farm." Elaborating further on the impact of
financial security, Leonard stated, "An advantage of being a formal leader is that
they.. .can send their kids to school."
Several participants believed informal leaders had greater understanding of the
local situation, including better relationships with local people, and thus were thought to
be more trustworthy than formal leaders. According to Omar, informal leaders "are
appointed because their values are like the values of the people. People trust and respect
them and that is how they become leaders." From his perspective as an informal leader,
Leeto added, "I know the people here and I can relate to them. I am knowledgeable about
the situation here and people talk to me and trust me so I am able to support them and be
a leader." Ophelia agreed with this sentiment, stating "It is hard to gain the trust of the
people but volunteer leaders in the community have an easier time of this because they
know the people and the people know them very well."
Another difference between formal and informal leaders, identified by several
participants, is in the area of collaborative leadership. Informal leaders were generally
characterized as individuals who work in cooperation with local people, supporting local
priorities and often leading by example. According to Luke, "Informal leaders are people
who cooperate together. Informal leaders use unity and understanding and work together
on bayanihanP Conversely, formal leaders were seen by Leeto as those who can
"mandate people to do anything" without the input and support of local people. Lily
differentiated the collaborative efforts of informal and formal leaders in the following
statement: "Informal leaders do not have to force people and people they lead are free to
participate or not, whereas with formal leaders, people do not have free will."
A final difference, identified by a few of the participants, is that informal leaders
have more freedom and flexibility than formal leaders in the actions and decisions that
they take. According to Lily, "Formal leaders must keep track of time and what activities
they have to do for their boss. They must do things in the context of what is expected of
them in their job." Oria went on to distinguish that "informal leaders are not after the
votes. The informal [leaders] have nothing to be afraid of in terms of losing their
position."
Advantages and disadvantages to both types of leadership were cited by all
participants—neither informal leadership nor formal leadership was identified to be ideal
in every situation.
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Internal Determinants of Informal Leadership
I asked the six informal leaders what personal characteristics they thought they
possessed that helped them emerge as leaders in their communities. I also asked the six
participants in Part 2 what they deemed to be the most important personal characteristics
that led to the emergence of these leaders. The three most common characteristics and
their frequencies identified by informal leaders were: having strong communication skills
(5); having training, skills, and credibility of knowledge to share with others (5); and
motivating others through their actions or setting an example (5). Other significant
characteristics identified by informal leaders about themselves were an ability to
negotiate conflicts (4), experience in leading spiritual or church activities (4),
participation in group activities (4), and a confident attitude (3).
The most common characteristics identified by Part 2 participants were that the
informal leaders had strong communication skills (8) and were trustworthy or had a good
reputation (6). Other significant characteristics identified by Part 2 participants included
participation in group activities (5), hardworking (5), encouraging (5), motivating others
through their actions or setting an example (4), and outspoken and confident attitudes (4).
Strong communication skills were mentioned significantly more frequently than
any other characteristic by the two groups combined. Setting an example, participation in
group activities, and having credibility of knowledge were also mentioned frequently in
the overall results. Trustworthiness was identified as an important characteristic by all
Part 2 participants, yet no informal leaders identified it specifically. Similarly,
hardworking and encouraging were mentioned only by participants in Part 2. Many of the
important internal determinants can be summed up in one comment made by Oscar:
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"Informal leaders must be dedicated and servant leaders. They can communicate honestly
and they allow and encourage other leaders to emerge."
External Determinants of Informal Leadership
I asked the six informal leaders to describe what external factors, both positive
and negative, have influenced their emergence as leaders in the community. I probed by
asking about both the supports that have helped them to emerge as informal leaders, such
as training or agencies, and the challenges they have faced and overcome, such as
attitudes of other community members or financial challenges. I asked the 6 participants
in Part 2 to describe challenges that they know the informal leaders to have overcome and
to mention supports to the emergence of informal leadership in communities in question
as a whole, including the ways that they or their affiliated organization supported
informal leadership emergence.
Supports. There are a number of ways identified by the participants regarding
how outsiders supported the emergence of these informal leaders. Outsiders include
XUCAC (particularly its field staff), government officials, and funding agencies. When
asked what external supports each of the six informal leaders felt had been important in
helping them to develop as a leader, the leaders cited training and capacity building,
funding and donations, and positive relationships/encouragement. Five leaders felt that
training was critically important. According to Luke, "[XUCAC] contributed to my
emergence as a leader in the community by giving trainings and seminars, mostly on
sustainable agriculture. Through these trainings.. .1 have learned to overcome my
shyness." Funding, donations and other financial supports were mentioned by four
participants. In keeping with an asset-based approach to community-driven development,
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however, the financial support mentioned was never given to the individual; it was given
to support community projects, thus allowing the informal leaders the opportunity to lead
the community towards a common goal. For example, the barangay captain in Kitaotao
donated materials for a learning centre, while XUCAC donated food to community
groups in San Roque as they restarted bayanihan. Two leaders also noted that the positive
relationships and encouragement they received from outsiders helped them build their
confidence and take on a leadership role. According to Leeto, "[XUCAC] trusted me and
gave me confidence in my abilities when they asked me to be a trainer.. .they had faith in
me and I really appreciated that."
Participants in Part 2 were also asked to comment on the important supports that
helped informal leaders emerge in each community as a whole. Positive relationships of
trust and encouragement were identified by 5 of the 6 participants. According to Oscar,
"When there is an open and honest environment, people are comfortable to try new things
and take on a leadership role." Ona added to this, stating, "I treat the informal leaders like
my family. I give them a hug and encourage them... When people are comfortable with
me, they become more comfortable with other people too." Interestingly, Omar noted that,
while the strong personal relationships between XUCAC and Lily and Leeto may have
supported their leadership emergence, it may be to the exclusion of other potential leaders.
Omar said, "[XUCAC] knew that Lily and Leeto had been leaders in the church group so
they started contacting them and mostly talked about the project with them. They have
the information and so they remain leaders."
Four of the Part 2 participants cited the importance of offering training and
capacity building for emergent leaders, while two identified setting up associations or
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local cooperatives as helping leaders to emerge. Two of the participants in Part 2
mentioned that exposure to new ideas and perspectives was one of the most important
external supports that could be offered to informal leaders in communities. Both Oscar
and Oria discussed how their work involved helping communities to see their local
knowledge, skills and assets as valuable resources. This change in perspective helped
give informal leaders and other community members the confidence to pursue their
development projects. According to Oscar, "We helped them to identify what resources
they have so that they can make their own decisions." Oria added:
We asked [community members and potential leaders] what they know and they were eventually able to list their skills, knowledge and abilities. They were surprised by how many there were and were immediately starting to think about what they can do with the skills.
In each case, the outside agency was more active in providing support at the
beginning of their engagement with the community, lessening their own role and building
the capacity of local leaders over time.
Overcoming challenges. Personal or personality conflicts among community
members was identified as a challenge by three informal leaders: Lily, Leeto, and Luis.
This result was corroborated by three "others": Omar and Olivia (about Lily and Leeto),
as well as Ona (about Luis and Luke). While overcoming shyness or lack of confidence is
considered critical in the emergence of informal community leaders, there is sometimes a
personal backlash against people who become more conspicuous and outgoing or against
those who are seen to benefit in some way. According to Lily, her leadership was
threatened by a community member who "continuously tried to create disunity in our
group and separate the people. She only wanted her own policies to be followed and she
even told people to stop participating in our community development activities." Through
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politeness, prayer, and finally confrontation, Lily was able to quiet this negative force in
the community. Leeto described how jealousy about the attention he received from
XUCAC, while emerging as an informal leader, created a personal conflict:
I attended a training at [XUCAC]... The people there... [began to] talk to me as a contact in the community. Another man in the community was upset by this and thought it wasn't right that I was getting too much power. He started telling stories about me.
Through patience and continued hard work, Leeto was able to show other people that he
was community-minded and, eventually, this person stopped harassing him.
Financial insecurity was identified as a challenge to becoming an informal leader
by 10 of the 12 participants. This finding echoes the financial disparity discussed in the
section comparing formal and informal leaders. Notably, every "other" identified the
leaders in the community with which they were associated to have faced this challenge in
their journey to becoming a leader. And, while 4 of the 6 informal leaders interviewed
identified financial insecurity to be a challenge, many also made statements about how
they overcame this challenge through personal motivation, community solidarity and
outside supports. Given that most informal leaders identified non-financial motive for
taking on a leadership role, they seemed reluctant to dwell on the fact that they face
economic hardship because of their commitment to their communities. Luis described
how a genuine love for the community supersedes financial insecurity: "A volunteer
leader works for love and does not expect financial rewards for the work. Volunteer
leaders have to love the work and love their community."
Opposition from formal leadership was identified as a challenge by one informal
leader, Lia, and two "others" - Olivia (about Lily and Leeto) and Oria (about Leonard
and Lia). Notably, opposition from formal leadership was not mentioned by anyone in
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San Roque. In Kitaotao, the formal tribal leader did not support the emergence of any
community leaders besides himself. According to Oria, a strong division exists between
the datu and the community development group and its leaders. He wanted to "take over
the process." Through organization and commitment from both the informal leaders and
the external community organizer, they overcame this challenge, pulled away from the
formal leader, and created a successful community gardening association. Oria described
one strategy the group employs: "When the group meets now they makes sure that it is
only their supporters that are present—if there is someone known to be a datu supporter
there, they refuse to talk and end the meeting."
In addition to those three challenges, two others warrant mention as they were
identified as the most important or the only challenge and/or were discussed at length by
one participant. First, Oria identified the length of time it takes for authentic leadership to
emerge, as a significant challenge for informal leaders. She stated, "Leadership is not an
overnight process.. .There are no short cuts and that eliminates many people from
emerging as leaders." Second, Luis felt the most significant challenge that he had to
overcome as an informal leader was the difficulty in leading people who are too focused
on their problems and do not feel they have the capacity to change their situation. He
stated:
The biggest challenge I face in being a leader is that it is hard to motivate people when they get easily depressed about their situation and their poverty. I talk to them and try to explain everything to help support them so that we can work together for development.
The common thread that emerged in how informal leaders overcame each of these
challenges is that they were patient, that they continued to work hard and that, without
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losing site of the end goal, they kept moving forward. A determined persistence also
seems to be an important characteristic of the informal leaders in this study.
Summary
Agents of transformation are individuals who, through their active participation in
community life, inspire a desire for change and help mobilize local resources to achieve
the change. The informal leaders in this study can be seen to be agents of transformation
in their capacity to motivate others through words and actions, to teach and share their
skills, to mobilize local resources for community projects, and to link local resources
with outside resources to propel development. While XUCAC's role in each leadership
emergence was significant, and which gives the leadership formation process a particular
complexion not comparable to some other contexts, this does not detract from the
significance of each informal leader in precipitating transformation and development
within their respective communities.
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CHAPTER 4: DISCUSSION OF THE OUTCOME: ANALYSIS AND
INTERPRETATION
This research identifies internal and external determinants of informal leadership
at the community level. The results reveal certain implications for formal leaders and
practitioners in the fields of adult education and community development who wish to
support the emergence of such informal leaders. Reflecting on issues of power and
empowerment, this study outlines how outside agents, as transformative adult educators,
can support informal leaders through provoking critical reflection, offering training and
skills building, and giving personal encouragement. It also demonstrates that informal
leaders themselves often play the roles of transformation agent and adult educator at the
community level—catalyzing broad perspective transformation in order to implement a
sustainable, community-driven approach to development. Looking specifically at
informal leaders who have emerged in three rural communities in Mindanao, Philippines
who are employing an asset-based approach to community-driven development, this
research also illustrates a strong relationship among community-driven development,
informal leadership, and adult education. I note in each section how my research supports,
challenges, links, or extends the literature in these three fields. The research methodology,
employing an appreciative approach to data gathering, gives a certain descriptive element
to the findings and is also reflected upon in this analysis.
Informal Leaders and Their Role in Transformation
The individuals who participated in Part 1 of this study can be identified as
informal or "authentic" leaders as defined using Pielstick's (2000) model of authentic
leadership. Authentic leaders are recognized to be in a unique position to initiate a
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group's transformative process by developing a new shared vision of the future.
Pielstick's model outlines four domains of authentic leadership: (a) communicating
regularly, (b) building a web of relationships, (c) creating a community of shared values,
and (d) guiding achievement through empowering others. Each of these domains is
demonstrated in the stories of leadership emergence of the six informal leaders taking
part in this study.
Through formal and informal channels, each leader communicates regularly with
other members of his or her community, thus addressing Pielstick's (2000) first domain.
In fact, the ability to communicate well was identified as the most important internal
determinant of informal leadership in this study. Because these informal leaders are local
residents and people know and trust them, they can communicate easily on a regular basis
with their neighbours, friends, and the broader community.
With respect to the second domain, the informal leaders involved in this study are
also well positioned to build a web of relationships within the community and link the
community to supportive outside agencies. Mobilizing the various assets of the
community for development requires these leaders to be able to build webs of
relationships and skills. Leaders, like Luke, are described by Oscar as being "keen on
knowing social processes" that contributed to his success in mobilizing people to build
the local learning centre. Similarly, Luis describes how he brought people together for
bayanihan, working together in a way they had not in many years. In most cases, the
informal leaders have been instrumental in organizing and participating in various local
associations that bring local people together, for example MICODA, the gardening group,
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and the farmer-trainer pool, thus providing opportunities for relationship-building, both
within the community and with external agencies.
The third domain of authentic leadership (Pielstick, 2000) is that of creating a
community of shared values. The informal leaders in this study all tend to use a similar
approach to building the shared value of appreciating local capacity and assets. In each
case, they lead others by example, demonstrating how it is possible to use local assets for
successful development and sharing their skills and assets with others. By living this
value, they encourage others in the community to also appreciate and use their own assets
for development.
Pielstick's (2000) final domain—guiding achievement through empowering
others—is central to the success of the informal leaders who participated in this study.
Although each individual has his or her own assets to contribute, the ultimate success for
a community's development comes only when many people are empowered to contribute
to the process. Ensuring that others know what their assets are and how they can be used
to develop family, farm, and community (whether through modelling, encouraging, or
teaching) is a critical role of an informal leader in supporting community level
transformation.
Internal Determinants
The results of my study reveal several specific personal characteristics (or internal
determinants) associated with informal leaders who emerged through the community-
driven development process. These characteristics were both identified by participants
and demonstrated in the stories of leadership emergence of Part 1 participants. The
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findings of this study were generally consistent with the literature on informal leadership,
with a few notable exceptions.
Effective and open communication (i.e., knowing to whom, when, and how to
best communicate) was identified by nearly all participants as an important characteristic
of an internal leader. Luke summed this up, saying, "The reason that I am a successful
leader is that I am down to earth and I communicate with the people.. .1 talk to people
individually and ask people how they are and listen to their problems." His comment
supports the literature that identifies emotional intelligence as a critical factor in
successful leadership emergence (for example, see Balkundi & Kilduff, 2005; George
2000). Confidence and credibility of knowledge through training and skill recognition
were both highlighted in the results of this study as common characteristics of successful
informal leaders. This corroborates the findings of scholars such as Smith and Foti (1998),
who explore how self-efficacy—having confidence to perform a task—contributes to
one's ability to lead effectively. The results also build on Taggar et al.'s (1999) findings
on extraversion and Pescosolido's (2001) identification of charisma as characteristics of
internal determinants of leadership emergence.
My study finds that informal leaders are likely to be collaborative learners and to
motivate change in others more often through actions than through words. These findings
are consistent with Tapia et al.'s (2003) study of effective grassroots leadership being
defined as action—leading by doing and mobilizing collective action, while not relying
on positional authority to achieve results. Kouzes and Posner (1988) and Pescosolido
(2001) also found that modelling desired behaviour was a common approach for effective
grassroots leaders.
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The concept that informal leaders may be most effective by leading through
action—often by improving their own situation first, and then using personal success to
demonstrate others' capacity—is a significant finding of this study. This result challenges
the premise that grassroots leaders are motivated primarily by a desire to serve others
through self-sacrifice (W. K. Kellogg Foundation, 1999). Although most of the informal
leaders who participated in this study had a strong sense of community and wanting to
help others, they also had an attitude of wanting to help themselves. The "help myself so
that I can help others" approach seems in line with the idea that an informal leader should
project a sense of self-reliance that draws on the community's own assets (McNeely et al.,
1999). Theories of servant leadership (e.g., Greenleaf, 2002; W. K. Kellogg Foundation,
1999; Pielstick, 2000) that emphasize service-above-self do not seem to hold up in this
context, whether it be because of the level of poverty or the focus on community assets,
or both.
Finally, although participation, hard work, and perseverance are strongly
identified in this study, there was little mention of these as important characteristics of
informal leaders in the literature reviewed. Additionally, characteristics such as the
ability to negotiate conflicts and experience in leading church or spiritual activities were
identified, but not significantly, in the literature. These additional characteristics may
indicate that informal community leaders can be differentiated from other leaders studied
in the literature. Cultural variances may also have played a role in the differences.
Individual and Societal Transformation
Perspective transformation is a change in the way we see ourselves and our reality.
Our culture or surrounding environment can either support or impede our ability to think
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critically about our role, thus enabling or disabling perspective transformation (Mezirow,
1978). There is some debate in the literature about the relationship between individual
perspective transformation and collective or societal transformation. Through examining
the interplay between the individual transformations of the informal leaders and the
broader transformations taking place throughout the community development process,
my research demonstrates that individual and societal transformation are integrally
connected.
Community development can be seen as another term for societal transformation.
It is the changing of attitudes, behaviours, and conditions within a community, regardless
of its population size. Within the transformative adult education literature, some scholars
insist that individual transformation and the building of agency are prerequisite to
collective transformation (see Brookfield, 1987; Taylor, 1998; Mezirow, 1991). My
research supports this theory insomuch as it demonstrates that building the capacity of
certain key individuals is an important step in collective transformation and sustainable
community development. In this context, the perspective transformation—and the
resultant change in behaviour or actions—of informal leaders is shown to inspire a
collective community transformation.
It is important to note that a community development process framed the context
from which each of the informal leaders who participated in this study was chosen. They
were selected because they were seen to have played an important role in the
communities' development process. Given that the context for this study was to explore
the role of informal leaders as agents of change in their communities, the results of the
study support the work of theorists such as Freire (1970), who insists that the ultimate
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goal of transformative adult education is social action and collective transformation that
is launched from the community level. Any community-driven development model
would have a logical connection to this theory and, similarly, would be somewhat
contradictory to Mezirow's assertion (1991) that individual perspective transformation is
a suitable end in itself. In the cases explored in this study, community development was
the goal, so the individual perspective transformation of key informal leaders was a
means to that end but not an end in itself.
In the case of each informal leader in this study, his or her individual perspective
transformation related to recognizing and mobilizing local capacity was linked with the
broader transformation and success of his or her community. In many, this included a
change in the capacity they recognize in themselves: a building of confidence in their
own ability to assume a leadership role. During a shift from a needs-based to an asset-
based approach, transformative learning must take place. In the examples presented,
informal leaders can be seen to have helped enable the transformative learning process as
defined by Mezirow (1995). They acknowledge the learners' own experiences and
situations to understand, from firsthand experience of living in the community what the
general perspective of the community is. They also know what local assets exist. They
are able to encourage critical reflection by other community members on the assets and
capacities that exist in the community by challenging problem-focused visions or other
local conditions that are impeding development. Also, they are able to create
opportunities to keep discourse open, either through local associations, or through general
open communication.
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For San Roque's farmer trainers, including Luis, one person's learning and the
transformation of his farming practice can be shared with great success with others in his
community. Members of the same community tend to have a level of trust that may
facilitate an easier transfer of knowledge between them. People knew Luis, they trusted
him, and could feel comfortable that he understood the local situation more so than an
outsider would. Luis was able to use this trusted position to help people acknowledge the
current situation, discover local assets (such as organic farming techniques and materials)
and encourage people to come together to discuss and try new techniques. By
reinvigorating the bayanihan system, Luis provided an ongoing learning environment as
well as a practical opportunity for people to discover other techniques and perspectives
on farming and local capacity.
The gardening group in Kitaotao made significant strides in changing long-held
beliefs; this was a significant perspective transformation from the traditional deference to
the datu. In Kitaotao, as a lumad community, consensus building is important. Collective
transformation is the goal rather than individual transformation. In this type of cultural
situation, it is perhaps more difficult for an individual to leap ahead of the group in
transformation. Instead, there is more discussion and decision-making around a common
journey. In this case, the role that Lia played in listening and facilitating laid the
groundwork for transformation. Lia leads with a respect for the assets and skills of others,
and acknowledges the centrality of their experiences in informing their perspectives.
Once she realized (through Oria's guidance) that the community members actually could
have ownership over their assets and use them to the advantage of the community, she
became firmly convinced that change was necessary. She then played a key role in
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coordinating the gardening group who operated outside of the datu 's purview. However,
she realized the importance of consensus-building to create change and thus focused her
attention on supporting the group to discuss and act.
Individual perspective transformation may be seen to sometimes impede
community transformation, depending on the individuals involved and on the perceived
balance of power in a given situation. Sometimes, when individuals receive attention
from an outside agent and subsequently are seen to challenge long-held community
beliefs, other community members may lose trust in those individuals. In such cases,
depending on the pervasiveness of the sense of mistrust and/or how power is perceived
and shared, an individual's transformation can slow collective transformation. The stories
of Lily, Leeto, Lia, and Leonard demonstrate the complexity of community change. If
people are seen to be acting on someone else's behalf—especially an outsider—(as is the
case with Lily) this can create difficulty in garnering broad community support. The
insider perspective is one of the reasons why informal leaders can come to be regarded as
such powerful and effective agents of change in communities. Both informal leaders and
outside agents (such as XUCAC) must be sensitive to this perspective, so that the
informal leader is believed to be acting with the community's interests at heart rather than
those of the outside agent.
Access to information through training or mere relationships with outside agents
is important in sowing the seeds of transformation. How that information is shared with
others, by the leader, outside agent, or both, is critical in inspiring broader community-
level transformation. The benefits of channelling certain key informal leaders as agents of
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transformation seem to outweigh the risks. Further issues of power and empowerment are
discussed in detail in the section of this chapter on power and empowerment.
Critical Thinkers and Risk Takers
There is a consensus in the literature that critical thinking is an integral element of
adults' learning and readiness for transformation (Brookfield, 1987; Cranton, 1994;
Freire, 1970; Ledwith, 2001; Mezirow, 1978, 1991, 2002). Given that the model of
community development undertaken as the backdrop to this study is an approach quite
divergent from the norm, the leaders who emerged from each community to drive the
process were all necessarily critical thinkers and, in many ways, risk takers. They were
able to challenge their own assumption that their community consisted only of problems
and needs, while inspiring others to use local assets and to work together. Luis, for
example, was able to think critically about both the benefits of moving to more organic
farming on his land as well as about convincing others of the benefits of reinvigorating
the traditional practice of bayanihan. Leonard and Lia further demonstrated their capacity
for critical thinking by helping their group to break away from the formal community
leader and their traditional system of governance once they realized that his negative
leadership style was stalling the community's development. In these cases, the leaders not
only showed a capacity to think critically and make personal choices that reflected this,
they also demonstrated a capacity to encourage critical thinking and behaviour change in
others.
However, the stories of these informal leaders also highlight many of the risks
associated with both critical thinking and emerging as leaders in their communities. Not
only are there certain psychological risks associated with perspective transformation
since it is personally challenging to see the world in a new way, but for these leaders,
there were many more risks associated with their emergence as informal leaders.
Financial insecurity was a major risk for the informal leaders in these communities.
Participants felt it was difficult enough to eke out a living for themselves in the
challenging conditions in which they live, let alone decide to take risks in farming
practices by using more local assets and relying less on outside inputs. In addition, as
successful informal leaders, many participants found themselves spending a great deal of
time away from focusing on their livelihood in order to support and lead broader
community initiatives. These financial strains sometimes lead to emotional strain on the
family and in their personal life, such as those described by Luis and Leeto.
Many of the leaders also faced social insecurity that came from their personal role
change in showing a more active citizenship and upsetting the balance of local life. The
insecurity arose from challenging long-held beliefs or socio-political structures, bringing
in new ideas, or asking people to reflect critically on their capacities and ability to
support local development. In some cases, these social challenges were so great that, as
with Lily, the leaders even had to face physical risks.
In an environment where people's day-to-day struggles to negotiate such role
change and perspective transformation puts them in physical or emotional danger, the
deeper meaning of what it takes to engage in and promote transformation begins to
emerge. These informal leaders are not only risk takers in terms of being early adopters
of new ideas, they also actively encourage others to adopt new perspectives. It is
infinitely riskier to try to encourage others' perspectives to change. Given the resolve of
each of these leaders to lead the change process, particularly as volunteers and out of a
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general sense of commitment to their community, I was struck by the courage and
perseverance that necessarily accompanied their emergence as informal leaders.
Beyond Perspective Transformation
Transformation is more than changes in perspective—particularly in the context
of transformation for community development. Once people's perspectives are changed,
they must mobilize for action and connect with the resources they need to succeed.
Beyond inspiring people to transform through their words or actions, informal leaders
play an important role in mobilizing them as well.
The role of informal community leaders is different from the typical adult
educator or outside agent in that they are ongoing members of the community in which
they hope to inspire change. Whereas an outsider may consider his or her role as a
transformative educator to be finished with the noted perspective transformation of
learners, the role of the informal leader as agent of transformation does not end with
perspective transformation. Leadership, as Tapia, Underwood, and Jabre (2003) found, is
action. Beyond helping people to change their ideas, leaders also need to be equipped to
motivate, teach, and mobilize local people to action, as well to be willing and able to play
a linking role between members of the community and supportive outside agencies—all
of whom keep the momentum of community development going. The informal leaders
who participated in this research all demonstrated that they engaged in such activities to
support their communities' transformation and development. The following are examples
of ways in which they played motivating, teaching, mobilizing, and linking roles.
Motivating. According to the results of this study, informal leaders motivate
others to want change and to move towards change through their words and actions. As
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was discussed in the section on internal determinants, participants in this study identified
informal leaders as those who have achieved success through strong communication
skills, leadership by example, and active participation in community activities - all
elements of motivation. Whether by developing one's own farm (like Luis), allowing
everyone to have a voice in the discussion (like Lia), or encouraging people to see their
own strengths and capacities (like Leeto), these informal leaders are motivators. This
finding builds on the findings of scholars such as Pielstick (2000), who found informal
leaders to be more likely than their formal counterparts to be collaborative learners with
their followers and to motivate others by modeling ideal behaviour. Kouzes and Posner
(1988) and Pescosolido (2001) also highlight the importance of modelling behaviour as a
characteristic of successful leaders. Informal leaders are in a unique position to model
behaviour in that they are peers in the community and their situations are easily relatable
to others. This puts them in a unique position to inspire transformation. The findings from
this study also build on numerous other findings that communication skills and emotional
intelligence are important determinants of leadership (see Balkundi & Kilduff, 2005; De
Cremer, 2006; George, 2000; Pescosolido, 2002). My study contributes to the leadership
literature by providing insight into similarities between the skill sets required of informal
leaders at the community level and formal leaders or those working within an
organizational context.
Teaching. According to the results of this study, teaching others builds the
capacity of both the teacher and the learner and thus supports the potential for
transformation. Teachers—in this case, informal leaders—build confidence in their skills
and in communicating with others, while learners gain skills and the idea that positive
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change is possible. Of the six informal leaders interviewed for this study, four
participants identified instances when they were in a position to share their skills and/or
teach someone something. Each of these four examples took place when the informal
leader was sharing knowledge about agriculture or spiritual teaching, and all occurred in
an informal learning environment. As Oscar described, by participating as teachers and
learners in a farmer-trainers pool, San Roque community members such as Luis and Luke
build their individual and collective capacity. He described how:
[The farmers] build their confidence as well as sharpening their problem analysis. Some of the farmer-trainers have very little formal education but they now feel comfortable to speak in front of anyone—even the higher-educated people. Knowledge based on experience is valued.
The informal leaders in this study are adult educators, and use the informal
classroom of everyday life. Their successful approach to teaching, without considering
themselves to be teachers, offers fluid opportunities for the various stages of Mezirow's
(1995) theory of transformative learning, specifically, understanding their own context,
critically reflecting on the situation, and engaging in discussion or rational discourse
about alternatives. Further, Cranton (1994) and Koch (2005), among others, discuss the
need for adult educators to be conscious of the positional power that they hold and to
recognize that they potentially need to give up this power over in order to support learner
empowerment. The results of this study show that informal leaders, who tend not to have
such positional power to begin with, can act as educators with fewer complications
around addressing and changing formal power structures. This is not to say that informal
leaders do not need to be conscious of their role in the power dynamics of their
communities as is further discussed in this study—it is merely to say that informal leaders
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are perhaps in a position more inherently conducive to leading change in a non-
threatening manner.
Mobilizing. The local resources that are mobilized for development can include
both physical and human resources. Examples of mobilizing physical resources identified
in this study include building a community meeting space (Lily), constructing water
catchments (Leeto), bayanihan (Luis), preparing for the farm-to-market road (Luke), and
leading a community gardening association (Leonard and Lia). Each of these leaders was
able to motivate people to participate as well as organize them once they were present.
Also each succeeded in mobilizing local people and assets for a successful community-
building project. According to Pielstick (2000), the successful informal leader does not
impose, but may initiate the vision of the group. Through demonstrating model behaviour,
developing a web of relationships, and encouraging others to use their assets for personal
and common good, the informal leaders in this study demonstrate how such initiation
without imposition is possible.
The mobilization of human resources includes not only motivating fellow
community members, as previously discussed, but also allowing opportunities for others
to take on leadership and responsibility. The ability for leaders to encourage leadership
emergence in others is identified in some literature to be characteristic of successful
informal leaders (Reicher et al , 2005; Taggar et al., 1999). This area was not specifically
discussed in this study and there is room for further research and analysis of this issue.
Linking. The degree to which an informal leader plays a linking role between the
people and projects in their community and the agencies and resources outside their
community may contribute to their ability to mobilize community action and change.
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According to the results of this study, linking local resources with outside resources
allowed certain community projects to be more easily organized, local capacity to be built,
and the community to gain a sense of momentum and pride in their recognized
accomplishments. Participants in Part 1 were asked to what extent they felt they had ever
played a linking role between local resources and external resources/agencies. All six felt
they had played such a linking role at some point and most (five participants) felt this role
was in communicating information about their community to local government officials.
As examples in chapter 3 demonstrate, other ways that informal leaders played a linking
role included giving people advice about where to go or to whom to talk with about a
problem (Lily, Leeto, Luis); coordinating community involvement in XUCAC
development programs (Lily, Leeto, Luis); and securing financial or legislative support
from outside organizations (Lily, Leeto, Luke). These informal leaders can certainly be
seen to employ both bonding social capital—internal community relationships—and
bridging social capital—relationships that bridge the gap between their communities and
outside agencies in a position to support their development—as noted in the discussion of
Krishna's (2002) work in chapter 2. Their capacity to support the transformation of their
community seems to be directly connected to their levels of each type of social capital.
However, while Krishna (2002) describes the typical effective leader with access to this
social capital as "younger innovators" (p. 11), the findings of this study do not show there
to be any significant age-related variance in an informal leader's capacity to mobilize
social capital. The role of social capital in an informal leader's capacity as an agent of
transformation is deep and could be explored in greater detail in further research.
Power and Empowerment
Issues of power arise throughout the examples of leadership emergence in this
study. Whether exploring the differences in the power of formal and informal leaders, the
changes in long-held power dynamics that often accompany the emergence of informal
leaders, or the challenge for outside agents in empowering local leadership to confidently
drive their own development, these issues play a central role in the learnings that can be
gleaned from this research.
Formal and Informal Leadership
All the participants in this study agreed that there is a fundamental difference
between formal and informal leadership. This supports the general consensus in the
literature with regard to the existence of this dichotomy (Heifetz, 1994; Pescosolido,
2002; Pielstick, 2000, 2003, 2006). The participants could all identify certain advantages
and disadvantages of each type of leader. This supports the idea that, depending on the
circumstances, both kinds of leaders play an important role in community development.
Many participants in this study referred to the fact that informal leaders were
more likely than formal leaders to have the trust of the people in their community, and
that helped them to be more effective in their role. Because informal leaders have direct
experience with and an understanding of the local situation (including the personalities,
assets, and challenges), they may be in a better position to relate to the emotions of
community members and thus be trusted to influence their beliefs and behaviour. This
result is well supported in the literature and builds on the work of Balkundi and Kilduff
(2005), George, (2000), and Pescosolido (2002) who identify emotional intelligence and
the capacity to influence the emotions of followers as key characteristics of effective
104
leaders. Mezirow (2002) also maintains that people must be encouraged to participate in
order for authentic transformation to take place, and that this requires the change agent to
be emotionally mature and empathetic. Informal leaders, through their emotional
connection to community members and the resultant relationships of trust, are in a prime
position to become agents of transformation.
Formal leaders were seen to have less flexibility than informal leaders because of
their need to be accountable to an outside agency and because they may have a fear of
losing their position if they stray too far from the status quo. This is consistent with
Heifetz's (1994) assertion that formal leaders are more externally accountable, which
influences their decisions and limits their willingness to take risks.
Interestingly, the most significant difference identified in this study is discussed
only briefly in the literature. The fact that nearly all formal leaders receive some kind of
salary was seen to be the most important distinguishing factor between formal and
informal leaders. In the Philippines context, having a dependable salary means financial
security and, according to the participants in this study, means that formal leaders may
have fewer worries. With the significant focus of the literature on Northern and/or
organizational contexts, this discrepancy is not surprising. In these contexts, issues of
financial inequality may be felt, but certainly not as keenly as in the communities
highlighted in this study. People in these communities face levels of financial insecurity
and risk that, in some cases, are truly a matter of life and death. Given these risks, the
emergence of informal leaders in these conditions—a position that often has a personal
financial cost associated with it—is most significant.
105
Based on the stories told in this study, informal leaders are perceived to be more
collaborative than their formal counterparts. The results point to the success of local
informal leaders being in their capacity to motivate others through their participation in
local activities and discourse—as opposed to the often arm's length and authoritarian
approach of formal leadership. These findings complement the work of Pielstick (2000)
who attests that informal leaders are more likely to be collaborative learners and motivate
followers through actions. They also build on Freire's (1970) notion that a democratic
relationship must exist between teacher and student for transformative learning to take
place. The results of this study indicate that such a democratic relationship is likely to
emerge between informal leaders and other community members because they consider
each other to be peers.
In terms of collaboration, however, this study clearly shows that there are
opportunities for and benefits of collaborative relationships between formal and informal
leaders. This is an area not specifically addressed in the literature reviewed for this study.
While certain literature mentions that each type of leadership plays a role in the
development of a community or group (Heifetz, 1994; Peilstick, 2000), rarely is the
capacity for these two types of leaders to work in a complementary and collaborative way
addressed. I documented numerous examples in my study of formal and informal leaders
working collaboratively and supportively to achieve results. Not only did formal leaders
build the capacity and confidence of informal leaders through training, relationship
building, and stewardship (such as the XUCAC extension workers), many also formed
partnerships in which each used his or her own skills and influence to achieve results. For
example, relationships between informal leaders and barangay officials in all three
106
communities yielded successful projects, such as the construction of a farm-to-market
road, meeting centres, and a communal garden.
In general, these examples demonstrate that formal leaders' capacities for
authority and decision-making power, interlaid with informal leaders' capacities to
understand and influence local issues, capacity, and people, can yield successful
community development. If both formal and informal leaders have certain inherent
positional capacities that combine to create the best chance for successful transformation
and development, the specific nature of these capacities and the ways that they can
complement each other should be further explored in subsequent research.
Empowerment and the Outside Agent
As demonstrated in the cases presented in this study, outside agents have a
significant opportunity to influence the emergence of informal leaders and, in turn, build
local capacity to drive sustainable community development. The potential of the outside
agent—particularly a community development worker—to inspire such individual and
community transformation rests in his or her effectiveness as a transformative adult
educator. It is important to reiterate at this point that the results of this study, and
particularly this section, may be somewhat skewed in favour of the positive role of
XUCAC's community development workers due to XUCAC's role in community and
participant selection. However, the results are still reliable and credible as common
themes clearly emerged across case studies which took place with the support of different
departments and extension workers, under different conditions, and at different times.
According to Cranton (1994), the role of a transformative adult educator is to
increase learner empowerment by stimulating critical questioning and supporting learners.
107
The role of outside agents in the emergence of informal leaders in this study—
particularly those outside agents affiliated as field staff of XUC AC—demonstrates that
such empowerment was central to their approach to inspiring community transformation.
In each case, the context of XUCAC intervention was to help local people discover and
use their assets for development, challenging the problems-focused approach to which
they were accustomed. Toward this end, XUCAC community development workers,
including Olivia, Omar, and Oria had to challenge, stimulate, and promote critical
thinking about local capacities through the way they asked questions, the way they built
relationships, and the way they framed discussions and activities (such as appreciative
inquiries or asset-mapping). These examples support the assertion of Cranton and others
(see also Brookfield, 1987; Mezirow 1991) that transformative educators are
provocateurs who encourage critical reflection—in this case, critical reflection on local
capacity. Interestingly, because the focus of the critical reflection in these cases was
directly related to improving people's perceptions of their own capacity, the knowledge
gained from this critical analysis may also have added to the learners' empowerment. The
Kitaotao case, in particular, demonstrated how Oria, the outside agent, was able to help
the community critically evaluate the formal leadership structure in the community and
eventually make a decision to separate from it. As Lia described, "through ABCD and
Oria's intervention, we realized that we can have ownership over our assets. We became
firm in our decision to move away from the formal leadership structure." Oria's intense
commitment to the Kitaotao community establishes her as a transformative adult educator
as described by Freire (1970)—one who builds "love, humility, and faith" (p. 91)
108
between educator and learner in order to create a culture of mutual trust within which
transformation can occur.
Cranton (1994) describes how a transformative adult educator must give up
position power without forgoing personal power. The examples of outside agents in the
role of transformative adult educator in this study indicate that the transferring of such
position power is a time-consuming process and takes commitment on the part of both
educator and learner. Olivia described how she spent the first 6 months working in the
community facilitating meetings, but after holding leadership trainings she was able to
leave the facilitation to them. Oria also described the lengthy process of transferring
complete ownership of the community development process to the core group of
community leaders. In her case, it took nearly 3 years of weekly visits, skills workshops,
and building relationships and trust with the local people.
All of these examples demonstrate how the underlying assumptions of
community-driven development logically fit with transferring the power inherent in
formal leadership from outside the community to local informal leaders. The integration
of an asset-based and community-driven development approach requires broad-based
perspective transformation at the community level. These examples clearly build on the
transformative adult education literature and show how community development agents
could incorporate lessons from transformative adult education theory to better encourage
transformation in communities. Community development workers should take heed of
transformative adult education theory in order to inspire the critical thinking necessary to
shift community members from a problem-focused to a capacity-focused approach. These
cases demonstrate how outside agents have supported broad-based community
transformation through the empowerment of key individuals by transferring the
ownership of the process from themselves to the local community.
It is worth noting that the balance of power in situations of community
development is not only between the formal leader and a few informal leaders. There are
also significant implications when power structures within communities change, a
frequent occurrence when new informal leaders emerge. Outside agents, hoping to inspire
positive development in communities, must be wary of focusing too much attention on
only a few individuals at the expense of empowering the whole community. Too heavy a
focus on the few can mean backlash against them or the local leaders, as some people
may feel less empowered while the power of others is perceived to grow. This lack of
empowerment seems, in some cases, to result in a resistance to participation and/or to
change. For an outside agency, a fine line exists between building an informal leader's
capacity to lead within his or her community and having the perception circulate that the
informal leader is a tool of the outside agency, subsequently undermining the inherent
influence and advantages of informal leadership. For Lily and Leeto, in particular, this
issue emerged and created personal and social challenges for them in their community.
Thus, for informal leaders there is also a fine line between using their knowledge and
skills to inspire others while simultaneously making sure to build others' sense of
capacity and power.
Research Approach
A number of particularities to this research approach contribute to the overall
findings of this study. The focus on informal leadership at the community level and from
a Southern context gives the findings a certain character rarely found in the literature
110
reviewed. Additionally, the appreciative approach influenced the relationship between
researcher and participant, the stories shared, and the picture presented by the data.
I used appreciative interviewing techniques throughout the interviews. Much of
the data collected was acquired through asking participants to share stories of past
successes in their community and to highlight the role of particular informal leaders in
that success. During the telling of their stories, participants were given the opportunity
and encouragement to analyze their own situation and their reasons for success. This was
intended to support the maintaining of ownership of the information by the participants
through allowing an opportunity for reflective learning.
Using appreciative interviews to gather data, I came to understand how the way a
question is framed influences the response and the subsequent reflection by both the
interviewer and the interviewee. I felt particularly conscious of limiting the potential for
my research to be extractive (taking information without trying to support local
ownership of it) because of my position as an extreme outsider (not from the community,
country, or culture). By drawing attention to successes, participants seemed to feel proud
that their accomplishments were being recognized, particularly by someone from outside
their community. It was clear that the participants were comfortable talking about their
successes, likely because of their habituation to the use of this kind of capacity-oriented
questioning throughout their work with XUCAC. In a situation where people had not
been given the opportunity to become accustomed to positive questioning over a long
period of time, the interview experience could have been quite different. However,
through my experiences during these interviews as well as from hearing people laugh and
joke together about all the successes they recounted following the interviews, I feel that
I l l
the following statement by Cooperrider and Whitney (2005) holds true: "Human systems
grow in the direction of what they persistently ask questions about" (p. 9). While I
acknowledge that appreciative interviewing may not present the complete reality of a
situation because of its specific focus on exploring the positive past, I would argue that
there is significant benefit in using an approach that encourages open story-telling by
putting participants at ease and implicitly valuing their experiences, capacities, and
insights. Regardless of the research methodology, the results will always be biased and
"incomplete" in some way; research always contains particularities of perspective—
whether those of the participants, the researcher, or both. However, by using a research
approach that highlights what is strong and vibrant about a community, it is perhaps more
likely to continue to move in that direction.
It is important to note that my appreciative interviews uncovered both positive
and negative factors that contributed to a community's or individual's success. By asking
about the challenges that informal leaders had to overcome to be successful, the arc of the
questioning was still based in the positive—learning about success—but also aimed to
understand the full context of the experience that could serve as a model in future
situations. This may somewhat allay critiques that appreciative interviewing ignores
problems or challenges; although challenges were not the centre of the inquiry, if they
played a role in the successful experience, the intention was to uncover and learn from
that. In reflecting on the interview questions used, it may have been useful to add a
question at the conclusion of each interview that inquired as to whether participants had
learned something new or gained a new insight about informal leadership by participating
in the research process. This may have provided a further indicator of the success of
112
appreciative interviewing as a technique for maintaining community ownership of
generated information and contributing positively to the community's development.
The interview process was not without its challenges—most notably those
associated with working through translation. I learned that it was critically important to
work with translators in advance of interviews to make sure that the content of the
interview questions was understood well. There were a number of instances during
interviews when the questions that I asked had to be reworded slightly in order to
translate into the language and context of the person being interviewed. For example, the
term "informal leader" was sometimes difficult for participants to understand. Through
working with the translators to understand what was meant by the concept, the words
were variously translated as volunteer leader and community leader. Finding the balance
between consistencies in research methodology and ensuring that participants understood
the questions and felt comfortable answering was an issue I addressed throughout the
process.
This study adds to the leadership and transformative adult education literature by
providing an example from a Southern context. The lack of research in these areas in this
context is a noted limitation of the literature. Certain key findings related to the cultural
and community perspective also have emerged. For example, the level of financial
insecurity faced by informal leaders in this study is a notable finding that may have
relevance in many Southern contexts. Recognizing the real risks posed by this financial
insecurity is important when defining the backdrop for the emergence of informal leaders
and, for outside agents, to make decisions about how to best support their emergence.
Another finding is that collaboration and consensus-building were noted as important
113
factors in inspiring community transformation, as well as being important cultural
characteristics in each of the three communities. This demonstrates that this type of
community development approach is complementary in this cultural context, but the
degree to which this finding holds true across other cultures is undetermined.
Although certain cross-contextual similarities can be noted, leadership at the
community level has a distinct texture that is different from leadership within
organizations. There is a different level of accountability, there are different levels of risk,
and there are different situations to which leaders must respond. This study uncovers
some interesting dynamics between formal and informal leaders at the community level;
but, in order to fully understand this dynamic and the advantages and challenges it poses,
more research is needed on the role of informal leaders in communities. Given that many
of the internal and external determinants of informal leadership can be influenced by
culture, it is important to study this issue from a variety of cultural perspectives in order
to better understand the role that culture plays. More research from various perspectives
is needed to draw broader conclusions about the emergence of informal leadership in
communities.
Despite the value in having field-based examples of informal leadership from a
distinctly Southern context, it is important to note that I, being from a culture far-
removed from the one that set the context for this study, faced certain challenges as a
researcher. The most significant issue and challenge I faced with this cross-cultural
research was ensuring that I clearly communicated the ideas and intentions of the
research study and clearly understood the participants' responses. While having a certain
cultural distance from the participants allowed me to have a somewhat fresh and
114
objective perspective on the situation, I acknowledge that some of the results of this study
have likely been swayed by the fact that people respond differently to questions from
outsiders than they would to someone they consider to be a peer. Individuals conducting
cross-cultural research should reflect on these limitations when designing their studies.
I did find, however, that an appreciative approach to data gathering was one
method of mitigating the potential limitations of being an outsider. By openly asking
about stories of local success, I demonstrated a respect for local capacity and knowledge.
This seemed to create an environment in which people felt comfortable and confident
talking to an outsider and hopefully they were able to be forthright in the stories that they
told. While I acknowledge that the stories told by participants about themselves and their
communities may contain certain biases based on their experiences and perspectives as
well as the framing of the interview questions, this is an inherent feature of qualitative
research and it does not negate the findings, particularly those consistent across
interviews. Exploring the potential of an appreciative approach as a means of building
relationships of trust and encouraging the greatest possible degree of openness from
participants is a strategy that others conducting research in a cross-cultural context may
be well served to use.
Significance to the Field of Adult Education
This research is significant because it yields field-based data that illustrates a link
between community-driven development, informal leadership, and transformative adult
education. It shows how informal leaders can be agents of transformation within their
communities and also highlights the capacity of outside agents to be transformative adult
115
educators—particularly as proponents of an asset-based approach to community-driven
development.
This study clearly shows that informal leaders at the community level are in a
unique position to change people's perspectives of themselves and to support their
capacities as individuals and communities to affect positive change. In this respect,
informal community leaders are transformative adult educators. This is particularly
significant because informal leaders do not have the formal authority or positional power
typically associated with being an educator or leader. Although informal leaders must
negotiate certain power dynamics to be successful leaders in their community, the
inherent level of trust between them and their fellow community members enables them
to lead, teach, and inspire others to transform. As seen in this study, informal leaders are
successful in this role because they are trusted, they are communicators, they model
positive behaviour, and they recognize the capacities of themselves and others.
People who consider themselves to be adult educators or who hope to inspire
some sort of transformation, particularly those working at the community level, could use
these findings to inform their approach to their work. If they are someone who would be
considered an outsider to the community in which they work, they would be well-served
to recognize that local informal leaders are assets in inspiring community-level
transformation. For the field of adult education, it is important to recognize the capacity
of informal leaders to be agents of transformation at the community level and to learn
more about how they emerge and why they are successful, and to apply these lessons to
help others become successful transformative adult educators.
116
One key area of significance brought to light through this study is the cross-
relevance of learnings from the fields of adult education and community development.
This research contributes to the field of adult education by adding practical examples and
stories of transformation led by local leaders at the community level. As much of the
transformative adult education literature comes from a theoretical basis, practical
examples like the ones contained in this study help to illustrate the practical dynamics of
transformation, deepening the theoretical concepts of the field. Such practical examples
are more frequently found in community development literature and analyzing them with
a transformative adult education lens could further enhance the field of study.
Similarly, there are lessons for the field of community development from adult
education literature. As approaches to community development emerge that shift the
focus from problems to capacities and from needs to assets, outside agents must reflect
on the most effective ways to support community transformation. In this case,
transformation refers to both the physical improvements in the community (i.e., structures,
processes, living conditions) as well as the transformation of the perspectives of local
people about their capacity to contribute to achieving these improvements. Outside agents
wanting to promote transformation could learn from adult education literature how to
support the various stages of perspective transformation at the community level—
appreciating the local situation and experience, inspiring critical reflection, and engaging
in rational discourse as an on-going co-learner. In this process, they can see themselves as
transformative adult educators.
Outside agents are also well served to seek out, work with, empower, and learn
from local people who are in a position to inspire others as informal leaders. Recognizing
117
the capacity of informal leaders, outside agents should look to the lessons of
transformative adult education for guidance on how best to support the emergence of
these leaders. The perspective and role changes of these individuals can be seen to be
directly linked to the overall transformation and development of their communities. The
role of the outside agent in supporting transformation becomes one of empowering local
leaders to be agents of transformation themselves. Sustainable community development
comes from engaging the local community as learners and leaders.
I found it interesting to note, throughout the interviews conducted for this study,
the potential for the adult educator to mitigate risk by instilling confidence in the informal
leader. Perspective transformation necessarily involves an alienation from previously
held beliefs—a process that can be challenging for the learner and can produce
psychological discomfort (Mezirow, 1978). This psychological discomfort was a risk
faced by the informal leaders in this study as they emerged into their role. However, there
are also additional risks associated with emerging as an informal leader and promoting a
new way of thinking about the community. These risks can include financial risks and
social strain in the wake of changing power dynamics. And, while the outside agent does
not alleviate these risks, he or she can play a role in building the confidence of emergent
informal leaders to be able to face the risks and inspire them to push forward on
improvements in their community's development. Whether promoting critical reflection
by exposing people to new ideas, building local capacity, particularly leadership capacity
through formal and informal training, or encouraging confidence in people through
emotional support and an appreciation for their abilities, an outside agent sets the stage
for transformation by building the confidence of local leaders.
118
As the transformative adult education literature suggests, adult educators must be
cautious in the way they negotiate power dynamics with learners (see Cranton, 1994;
Freire, 1970; Mezirow, 2002). As demonstrated in this study, both informal community
leaders and outside agents would be wise to apply these lessons to their work in
communities. The outside agent, hoping to inspire authentic local development, must
ensure that they do not (and/or are not seen to) drive the agenda of the local development
process. In order for people to have ownership over their situation, they must be
empowered to lead the charge for change for themselves. The informal leader must also
be cautious of power dynamics. The very reason that the informal leader is successful is
because he or she is someone who local people respect and to whom they can relate. If
the community perceives the informal leader to be more powerful than others or working
towards an agenda other than the community's, they may cease to be an effective
informal community leader. Through openly communicating, empowering others by
recognizing and encouraging their capacity, and living the values they hope to inspire in
others, the informal leaders in this study demonstrated how such fluid power dynamics
can be managed.
As agents of change and transformative adult educators, both informal community
leaders and formal leaders (such as external community development agents) play a role.
Outside agents can encourage change through skills training and capacity building.
Through creating opportunities for critical reflection, through encouragement, and
through seeking out key local individuals with the capacity to drive the process and
influence change, they can be supportive agents. Informal leaders from their position of
trust and influence can inspire change through their words, and their capacity to mobilize.
119
And, particularly, through their actions they are inspirational leaders. Formal and
informal leaders, working together to support community-driven development, can
provide an environment conducive to sustainable change.
One significant area of convergence between transformative adult education and
community-driven development is an understanding of authenticity. Authentic
community development is seen to be that of which the local community has ownership,
using the community's people, skills, and resources to succeed. Authentic transformative
adult learning is that which encourages the learner to have ownership of their
perspectives and their capacity to see beyond them. Authenticity is internally driven. It
means that, as adult educators and community development workers, we need to give up
positional power, become co-learners, and allow the learners to pursue their own vision
of development.
Conclusions
The most profound learning that I gained from the insights of informal leaders in
the study was that change (or transformation) is complicated; it is not straightforward and
promoting it can be risky. And even then, despite the risks, muddling through the
complication is worth it for us all to make our way and to live as successfully as possible.
This has significant implications for me as an adult educator in terms of reinvigorating
my belief in the power of change and growth and learning albeit tempered with a respect
for the time, commitment and courage that it takes to change.
Informal leaders are catalysts and exist in communities, not just in organizations.
The key role an external community development agent or agency can play in supporting
the emergence of such leaders—and thus enabling local capacity to drive development—
120
is to locate, support, and inspire local informal leaders to carve a path for transformation
in their communities. Certain lessons can be drawn from this study about the external
supports that can be offered to informal leadership to promote their emergence. The study
also identifies several significant challenges that often present themselves to would-be
informal leaders. An outside agent can work to create supports and mitigate challenges
through collaboration, education and, generally, through an attitude of capacity-building.
My practice as a community development agent will be affected in a more
conscious effort to find and support local leadership in order to precipitate meaningful
and lasting change. As an adult educator, my practice will be affected in the ways I
challenge individuals and groups to look for the capacity in themselves, in their
community, and within systems to build the capacity for transformation based on local
strengths and assets. Local informal leaders are assets within a community, catalysts of
transformation, and an integral part of authentic community-driven development.
121
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APPENDIX A: Research Study Summary
Title: The roles of "agency" and "assets" in explaining community-driven development: A multi-case study
Principal Investigator: Alison Mathie, PhD.
The Research Topic: The research seeks to explain successful cases of "community-driven development" from an asset-based perspective and to determine how an external agency can help to stimulate such a process. As such, it is designed to assess the interplay between endogenous and exogenous agency in promoting a sustainable community-driven process.
The Significance of the Study: The research builds upon work by the principal investigators in the areas of asset-based approaches to community-based development (Mathie and Cunningham, 2003, 2005; Cunningham, 2005). This work ties together various strands in the field of development theory and practice including the body of work associated with the Sustainable Livelihoods framework, pioneered by Robert Chambers and Gordon Conway (1992) and taken up by Department of International Development, U.K., the United Nations Development Program, and Care International among many others. In demonstrating that sustainable livelihoods rely on a basket of assets - human, social, financial, natural, and physical - the framework drew attention away from the singular focus on income poverty that had dominated the field of international development until the 1990s, and continues to do so in some quarters.
Complementing the attention being paid to different kinds of assets in composing a livelihood, Sen (1999) and Bebbington (1999) have argued that assets not only have instrumental value, but that assets also give people the capacity or potential to act, and thus are a source of meaningful engagement with the world. In other words, people's sense of identity and purpose is bound up in the various assets or capacities that they have. In a related sense, assets are also the basis on which people take action; they can empower people to challenge the structures that determine the way in which resources are allocated. Assets cannot be activated without access to them. Social capital is therefore a particularly important asset because it provides access to other assets, and it is access that is the most critical resource of all (Hulme, 2000; Bebbington, 1999; Krishna, 2002).
In this now burgeoning field of social capital research, international perspectives on community development converge with the literature on community mobilization and activism in North America. The work of John McKnight and Jody Kretzmann (1993), for example, echoes many of the voices that critique international development practice. "Asset Based Community Development" has challenged the problem-focus of mainstream social development practice, arguing that it results in communities and their leadership internalizing a negative view of themselves. With this deficit mentality, dependence on external agency is reinforced, paradoxically providing a raison d'etre for community service organisations and non government organizations.
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Kretzmann and McKnight's work draws attention to the assets, skills, and capacities that already exist at the community level, encouraging communities to reflect on historical incidences where they have organized and mobilized to make change, and to focus particularly on the existing associational base where social linkages have leveraged local and external resources for long term sustainable development. Attention therefore focuses on internal agency rather than external agency. Communities that are characterized by high levels of internal agency have been successful in mobilizing local resources and in negotiating with multiple external agencies to access opportunities for sustained economic and social change on their own terms. One of the reasons why the uptake of "appreciative inquiry" (Ashford and Patkar, 2001) in the community development field has been a significant trend in the last decade is that it inspires the kind of confidence required to stimulate internal agency.
This type of community development requires context. On the one hand, the notion of "community" is itself contested (see Brent, 2004). The proposed research takes the view that community initiative does not necessarily have to be inclusive of members of a geographically bound community - in fact, the sense of identity that the word "community" invokes may be restricted to a segment of the geographically or administratively bounded community or go beyond it. Moreover, global realities mean local level development is inextricably linked to the global market place (see Arce, 2003). On the other hand, given the shift in the balance between the roles of The State, the Market, and Civil Society in the current neo-liberal order, it is through channels of local decision-making that many vulnerable groups will find the voice and the political space to gain access to the assets to which they are entitled by virtue of citizenship or community membership (see Brock et.al. 2004; Beck and Naismith, Blair, 2000; Hulme, 2000). The skill with which community groups can negotiate with local elites, local government and private sector agencies is, therefore, as important as their relationship with the NGO sector.
Given this rapidly changing context, the research is designed to provide insight into how, and under what circumstances, communities mobilize their own resources and leverage external resources for sustained community-driven development, and the optimal role for external agencies to support this.
Research Design: The research design is a multi-site case study design (Stake, 2006). From November 2005 to June 2007, 8 case studies will be conducted. Five are "retrospective" case studies to be conducted in South India, and potentially Vietnam, South Africa, Peru, and Canada (yet to be decided), selected after consultation with partner agencies in those respective countries. The remaining three case studies are the culmination of action-learning partnerships between the Coady Institute and NGOs in the Philippines (SEARSOLIN), Ethiopia (Oxfam Canada), and Kenya (CREADIS) where the NGO has attempted to change its practice to an asset-based, community-driven approach and has been documenting the process and its results over the past 3 years as part of an on-going monitoring and evaluation exercise. Fieldwork is scheduled for these case studies in January (Oxfam Canada, Ethiopia), February (SEARSOLIN, Philippines), May (CREADIS, Kenya).
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Research Methods: The multi-case design requires the systematic use of a variety of qualitative research methods to explore the factors contributing to community-driven development, and build credible findings through a triangulation. In the action-learning case studies, documentation for monitoring and evaluation purposes has been on-going and will be collated and analysed before the field work begins for the case study production. This data and data collected during field work will be organized in case records developing thematic profiles for within-case analysis and cross-case comparison.
Phase 1 (action-learning sites only): On-going documentation completed by NGO partners in the action-learning sites, and reviewed, collated and analysed. Review of all other relevant documentation. Phase 2 (or Phase 1 for retrospective studies): Review of available documentation on the study sites and NGO and/or government work in the area Phase 3/2: Refinement of methods and tools with partner agency Phase 4/5: Field work in selected communities
(1) Focus and mixed group interviews with community members using "The Most Significant Change" technique (Dart and Davies, 2003) to elicit the stories and statements that exemplify what different community members consider to be the most significant changes in their communities over the previous 5 year period and why they consider these changes to be significant. Stories will be categorized in order to assess how different kinds of assets have been mobilized and built over the five year period (5 years for retrospectives, 3 years for action-learning cases). Each group selects the 3 most significant changes from the complete list of stories generated. A reference group selected from the community to represent broad based community interests then reviews and selects the most significant stories from the complete set.
(2) Guided observation, carried out through a transect walk, with community members identifying physical and natural assets, and implications for social assets, and changes in these over the 5 year period
(3) Follow up interviews with key players identified in the most significant change stories to elicit detailed perspectives on significant change and development of assets in their communities, with particular attention to development of social linkages. "Appreciative interviewing" strategies will be employed.
(4) Follow up interviews with local government, NGOs, private sector actors to obtain their perspective.
(5) Member-checking with community members and others who have participated in the initial interviews to discuss preliminary findings and their implications.
(6) Video documentation
These methods are consistent with a collaborative model of inquiry. The premise of this is that the participants in the research (including community members and external agencies) gain valuable insights from the research process in terms of learning, reflection, and analysis. The process of inquiry is thus designed to further the community's development interests. Every effort is to ensure as inclusive a process as possible and ensure transparency.
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APPENDIX C: Interview Questions
Part 1: Informal Leaders
General Information • Name, Age, Gender • Describe yourself, your family, your home, your livelihood, your education • Are you a member of a local association? Which one(s)? • Are you affiliated with a local institution? Which one(s)? • In which capacity building trainings (if any) have you participated?
The Community and Community Development Process • Describe your community (history, livelihoods, people) • Can you tell me a story about a time when you felt the community development
process in your community was going very well - when people were working together and achieving their goals?
o What role did you play in that experience? o What role did others play in that experience? o What was it about the environment (political situation, time of year,
outsiders involved, etc.) that made it so successful? • What activities are currently being implemented in the community? How were
these activities selected? How are you involved? What motivated you to be involved? Who else is involved? What do you think motivated them?
• What is the most significant change that you have witnessed in your community since you became involved as a leader in the community? Why was it significant?
Leadership • From your perspective, what are the characteristics of an effective community
leader? • From your perspective, what is the difference between formal leaders and
informal leaders? In your experience, is one type of leader more effective than the other? Why or why not?
• How often are you in a position where you teach someone something? Can you share an example?
• How did you become a leader in your community? (Were you specifically selected to be a leader? How? By whom? When/under what circumstances?)
• What personal characteristics do you think you possess that helped you emerge as a leader in your community?
• What responsibility do you have to the other people living in your community because you are an informal leader? How is this different than the responsibility a formal leader would have?
• Can you tell a story about how you have overcome challenges to taking a leadership role in your community?
• Have there been particular people from outside your community that have supported you in being actively involved as a leader within your community?
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• How do people treat you because of your role as a leader in the community? • How is your role in the community different from that of formal leaders (like
government and NGO field staff)?
Part 2: Other Stakeholders
General Information • Name, Age, Gender • What is your role in the community? Do you live in the community?
The Community and Community Development Process • Can you tell me a story of a time when you thought this community worked well
together on a project or in the community development process? o Who were the individuals that emerged as leaders? o What was it about those individual leaders that made the initiative more
successful? o How did people work together to achieve their goals? o What was it about the environment (physical, political, cultural, etc.) that
made it successful? • What activities are currently being implemented in the community? How were
these activities selected? How is the informal leader (use name) involved? Who else is involved?
• What is the most significant change in your community that you have witnessed over the past three years? What was the role (if any) of informal leaders? Why was it significant?
Leadership • How do you know the informal leader (use name)? • What, in your view, are the individual characteristics of the informal leader (use
name) that helped them to be successful in their role? • What challenges do you know them to have overcome in order to be successful as
an informal leader within the community? • What do you think are the factors that contributed to their ability to succeed as an
informal leader within the community? (political, cultural, personal, etc.). • What role do you think informal leadership plays in this community's
development process? • In your view, what are the general factors that contribute to the emergence of
informal leadership in this community? Do you see any general factors that inhibit the emergence of informal leadership in this community?